This good news was sent to us from the Ignatian Pro-Life Net-
work,
led by US
Jesuits.
Students from Jesuit universities and high schools from across the country will gather in DC this week for the annual ‘March for Life;’ there they will pray, sing, chant and march in support of the unborn. The Ignatian Pro-Life Network, lead by US Jesuits, will host the event.
Participating schools include some of the largest and most prestigious Catholic Jesuit universities in the country: Boston College, Georgetown, Marquette University, and Saint Louis University. Nearly 500 are expected to attend, including dozens of Jesuits.
“This event gets bigger every year. BC is sending over 50 students. It’s so inspiring to see these bright, faithful students speaking out to defend human life—especially the unborn,” said Joe Laramie SJ, chaplain of the Boston College Pro-Life club.
Saint Louis University was honored to be recognized as the Students for Life of America Group of the Year. SLU often sends over 100 to the said club president Sarah Pingel. "Receiving this award lets us know that the work and service we are doing for women and their unborn children truly touches lives." http://www.slu.edu/x28625.xml
Participants will gather for Mass at St. Aloysius Jesuit Parish in Washington, DC at 9:30am on Friday, January 22. Jesuit students will then gather for a rally on the National Mall at noon; the ‘Ignatian Pro-Life Network Rally’ will be held in the grassy area near the SE corner of 7th Street and the Mall, for Jesuit-affiliated groups. Look for the "Jesuit" banners.
“When we as religious leaders speak out against abortion, we are in no way endangering important constitutional principles. While we invoke faith-based claims for opposing legalized abortion, Jesuits are only one part of a broader coalition that finds many reasons to protect unborn life. In recent years, new evidence about prenatal biology has persuaded numerous people, often without explicit religious commitments, that the fetus is indeed a living, unique human being.” Source: Jesuit pro-life document, “Standing for the Unborn”
http://www.jesuit.org/index.php/main/jesuits-worldwide/social-justice/social-outreach/pro-life/
(Pictured above is last year's group from Boston College.)
Insistence on state-by-state variation in abortion law may make Justice Scalia and the Federalist Society happy, but it won't do a thing for the unborn, as women and parents of girls can cross state lines to get an abortion. The collateral damage from such a ruling on all matters of equal protection law would also be quite undesireable to all who care for the rights of minorities (including Catholics in Alabama and Mississippi). States are not the competent jurisdiction to recognize citizenship - it is a federal role under the 14th Amendment. Once a fetus is recognized as a legal person, he or she would enjoy the full range of equal protection rights, including the right to have the person who ordered his or her death punished. Since the nation (and even the pro-life movement) does not have the stomach for this happening in the first trimester, the game is forever changed.
As long as the focus is on the impossible dream of overturning Roe judicially, nothing will happen for the unborn. If we work within the boundaries of Roe and the 14th Amendment, however, at least late term abortions can be legally ended and the economic views of Caritas in Veritate can be applied to first trimester abortions (by making larger families affordable).