Written by: Joshua Robe, political correspondent
46 years ago the famous Roe vs. Wade case legalized abortion on demand, an often celebrated landmark in the movement for women’s rights.
Friday, January 18, thousands marched in the 46 annual March for Life in Washington D.C. to communicate a different theme: that the sanctity and dignity of every human life should be celebrated, and that abortion tragically violates that fundamental principle.
Organizers of the March estimated that up to three hundred thousand participated this year.
From the pro-life perspective, it is heartening to see so many people involved in the movement. But there is also a grave side to those numbers when you take into context the sobering statistic that more than one million babies are aborted every year, more than three times the number of annual participants in the March for Life. The total number of abortions since 1973 is now over sixty million, a number larger than the populations of most countries.
The reaction of many to these statistics is raw and powerful, leading to immediate and persistent action. I deeply admire that, not least because I find it so rarely in myself. If you are like me, you may resonate with experiencing a strange numbness and apathy when confronted with those statistics. My head knows I should be utterly outraged, but my heart does not always feel it. Passion for justice should boil over, but all that comes is a simmer.
Why is that the case? Perhaps we are so acclimated to massive-scale abortion that no shock value remains. Perhaps we feel so little because abortion seems so far away, having never entered our personal lives.
Whatever the reason, we had better correct it. Apathy towards injustice towards others is often rewarded by being the next victim. We have been given the gift of life, and with that gift comes the responsibility to act to preserve it for others, whether in the courts, in legislation, in healthcare and perhaps most importantly, in daily personal interaction.
For pro-lifers, it is easy to apply that principle too narrowly to include only the unborn, but the dignity and sanctity
of human life should be protected for all stages of life from conception to old age. The principle also includes the women often driven to abortion by real, desperate needs and also those who espouse the pro-choice position.
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Joshua Robe is a sophomore double-major in history and government. He is on the Bryan College men’s soccer team and serves as political correspondent for the Triangle. In his spare time, he enjoys smiling, music, reading and learning languages
