Thousands of pro-life advocates rallied in Dallas on Saturday in a march led by seminarians from the Holy Trinity Seminary and were joined by students, alumni and priests from the University of Dallas.
The event started with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Edward Burns and Auxiliary Bishop Gregory Kelly and concluded with a rally outside the Earle Cabell Federal Building. The ceremony commemorated the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that women have a federally protected right to an abortion.
Burns expressed his appreciation to those who attended, including members of the Jewish, Muslim and other communities, with a speech outside the federal building.
“Thank you for your steadfastness in supporting life,” Burns said.
UD junior Andrew Collart was there and said he felt united with the crowd when seeing fellow students, alumni and professors.
“It’s really great to feel that solidarity, that we’re not alone,” Collart said.
Collart explained that this unity is important for the movement.
“Being pro-life, sometimes it can be easy to feel alone, especially when you read the news,” Collart said. “And then when you come together with that many people; it’s just really inspiring and gives you the motivation to continue with the pro-life movement throughout the year.”
The Dallas march wasn’t the only one attended by UD students. Last Friday, students traveled to Washington, D.C. for the national rally. More students plan to go Austin this Saturday, a promising sign for the pro-life movement.
“At the March for Life, there were so many young people, so many children, so many babies, and everyone had really optimistic signs,” senior Abby Knapp said, who attended the D.C. march.
Knapp thinks the movement needs to do more than march once a year at the nation’s capital, though.
“We have to take it out of D.C.,” Knapp said. “We have to come back, and we have to work in our cities, our own towns and our own environments to keep maintaining the pro-life message.”
There has been a slight increase in support for outlawing abortion in all or most cases, as well as a slight decrease in thinking abortion should be legal.
According to Pew Research Center, currently 40 percent of U.S. adults say abortion should be illegal in “all or most cases” compared to 57 percent who think it should be legal. Back when Pew Research started polling this topic in 1995, the numbers were 38 percent and 60 percent, respectively.
The idea of Roe v. Wade being overturned is fresh in the minds pro-life students, and to them it is only a matter of time before it happens.
“I think it will happen,” Knapp said. “Actually, no, I know it will happen.”
The March for Life in Austin will take place on Jan. 27.
