CHICAGO, January 16, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A record-breaking crowd braved the frosty weather to attend the thirteenth annual March For Life Chicago.
Approximately 6,000 people attended the rally and march, the biggest annual pro-life gathering in the American Midwest. There were babies in strollers, children, students and adults of all ages well-bundled up against the cold.
March for Life Chicago Board of Directors President Dawn Fitzpatrick was delighted by the record turn-out. “This March for Life Chicago drew people of all ages, from across the Midwest,” she said. “Some come singing, chanting and dancing. Some come quietly praying. They are from all walks of life, but they have one thing in common, they know that love saves lives and that abortion is one of our culture’s gravest ills.”
Fitzpatrick added, “This March for Life for Chicago bears witness to the fact that killing a child in the womb is never an acceptable solution to any problem. We call upon religious, civic and community leaders to renew every effort to build a nation and culture dedicated to protecting life at every stage and eliminating the violence of abortion.”
The keynote speaker at the rally was former Planned Parenthood director Ramona Trevino. She told the crowd that “the deadliest thing in the world is indifference.”
“It is love that brings us here today,” she said. “It is love that reaches out to a woman in crisis that says I’m here for you, to help you.” Trevino added that love is what is needed to counter the indifference that “makes it possible for Planned Parenthood to perform over 300,000 abortions a year and for politicians to fund Planned Parenthood to the tune of half a billion dollars of our money.”
Trevino, who worked as the manager of a Planned Parenthood abortion-referral facility in Sherman, Texas, told the rally, “I walked away from that Planned Parenthood seven years ago, knowing that their days are numbered, and that Roe v. Wade’s days are numbered.”
„To Planned Parenthood, I say stop perpetuating the lie that we need abortion,” she said.
Among the other pro-life speakers were Blase Cardinal Cupich, the Roman Catholic archbishop of Chicago; Democrat state representative Dan Lipinski; Republican state representative Peter Roskam; Pat McCaskey, the co-owner of the Chicago Bears; Students for Life’s Sarah Storto; and Republican state representative Jeanne Ives.
Dan Lipinski said that, “Being pro-life is being pro-woman,” a sentiment particularly apt in the wake of revelations concerning widespread sexual harassment in Hollywood and other left-wing institutions.
The Students for Life of Illinois were at the head of the march, holding a banner reading “March for Life Chicago” under a row of bright yellow umbrellas. Giant arches of yellow balloons floated overhead as the crowd cheered over the sound of the drummers from Carmel Catholic High School.
Source: LifeSiteNews
