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Tuesday, April 27, 2004

The March For Women's Lives   [Rick Barry]

I was at the March for Women's Lives as a part of a counter protest, a silent vigil of prayer and remembrance for the millions of lost lives since Roe vs. Wade. We stood with a group of amazing women from (ironically, since it was a silent protest) Silent No More. Most of the people in our group were young, around the age of 20, and most were female. We stood as a pro-life witness against the deceit and acrimony propagated by many of the marchers.

It was certainly one of the most moving, if not life changing, days of my life.

Silently we stood there holding our "Women Deserve Better than Abortion" signs, and we were the object of great hatred. I realized that we were, for the protesters, a physical group upon whom they could heap their disgust, and so we had the burden of receiving their hate. For no less than five hours we stood our ground as every conceivable insult was tossed our way. I was proud of how we, for the most part, remained silent, allowing their words to fall at our feet.

Even so, it was an incredibly sad day. At one point, after maybe the first hour, I wondered how anyone could love such cruel people as these. By the second hour, my heart began to rouse. I saw past the hatred and fury; I saw heartbreak. Most of these women have ended the lives of their own children! Undoubtedly, there is great pain and suffering in this. They didn't want to kill their babies, but something told them they had no choice. They need to march for "choice" because the only alternative was to repent, and repenting is a very painful labor. The more women I saw pass, the more pain I saw in their eyes, the more hurt, the more sorrow. These were broken women who at some fundamental level missed their lost children--they longed to embrace their irretrievable babies. How could we respond with anything but love and compassion?

That is why I am proud of the pro-life group we were with. There were a handful Christians who preached a message of hate, but the vast majority of us came in love. Ours was a witness of compassion. We proclaimed that women deserved better that abortion...that they need love, not abortion. I was honored to stand there along that angry road with amazing women, women who have had abortions. These precious ladies have felt the great emptiness and horror of abortion. In their hands they held tissues to wipe away their tears, and signs confessing "I Regret My Abortion".

I know it was a powerful message. I saw what it did to one woman. As she passed by the young ladies in our group, she said (in a pathetic, yet angry way), "You don't know what you are talking about! I was younger than you when I had my abortion!" These words struck my ears as sorrowful, though said in anger.

Then an amazing thing happened. She walked passed Georgette Forney (the head of Silent No More...a truly incredible woman) who was holding her "I Regret My Abortion" sign. And this woman...who had just recently told the young girls they don't understand...she froze. She stood before Georgette, and there on that road, as others marched by, she started to cry. In Georgette she found someone who did understand the agony of abortion. Her husband (boyfriend?) soon pulled her away; she was made to March on.

This story, for me, epitomizes the March for Women's Lives. These women bear a great burden, a grievous yoke around their necks. They want healing, they cry out for it. But as their cries emerge from their lips, the words have changed. They cry for help, but they hear themselves say, "choice." Maybe the only way to deal with the pain is to try and justify it, to even fight for it. But what they really desire is to heal their deep hurts. Even still, their "sisters" tell them to march on. Their husbands and boyfriends tell them to get over it. These are not real choices.

"Choice" is an empty option for women. Make a choice, and then shut up about it. But there is submerged suffering, deep in the deserted recesses of the soul. The "March for Women's Lives" people don't want to talk about those places. They don't care about the gasping soul, they care about the feminist agenda.

I am convinced that we must reach out in love to the millions of heartsick women who have made this most dreadful decision...to end the life of their own young. They need real options, and abortion is not a real option. Yes, abortion is a choice. But the March for Women's Lives failed to address this question: is it a good choice? The women of Silent No More were an incredible witness in silent response to that question. They need not say the words, for most of the women at that march had memorized the answer long ago. It reverberates in their belly. They know it by heart. The answer, alas, is a teary-eyed "no."