On January 22, 1973, the Supreme Court legalized abortion because of the Courts decision in the case Roe v. Wade. This case was sent to the Supreme Court in 1970, and the Court rules that under the Due Process Clause of the 14th Amendment, privacy extended to a woman’s right to abortion.
A year after this law was passed, several pro-life leaders decided that January 22 would not be another day that passes through the year unnoticed. This was the day that the first March for Life was accomplished in Washington D. C. Every year since 1974, there is a March held in honor of the women and babies this Supreme Court decision has affected.
This year, at the 45th annual March for Life, several keynote speakers addressed the thousands of people who showed up to participate in the March. Many of these speakers were noteworthy politicians including President Donald Trump, Paul Ryan and U. S. Representative Dan Lipinski. In the mix of all these politicians and holy men and women, one of our very own Auburn students was asked to speak at this year’s March.
Agnes Armstrong, a sophomore here at Auburn University, has an incredible passion for the unborn and to save the rights of those who cannot speak for themselves. This all began with Agnes writing a speech to Jeanne Mancini, executive director for the non-profit, to explain the impact she had on her and the respect felt for her when she saw her speak at last year’s March for Life.
When asked what her main point was for the two-minute speech to around 500,000 plus people, Agnes stated:
“I think it’s easy to see the Prolife Movement as a singular event for people who don’t agree with abortion, but it is so much more. The pro-life movement isn’t just a March or a protest, it’s a way of life. It’s the decision to wake up every day and respect life in all that you do. This includes your words, your thoughts, and your actions. It’s choosing to love the people hardest to love and to continue loving those who make it easy. I wanted to draw attention to the connection and inclusion of the prolife movement in relation to other movements we hear about every day. With the history of my hometown, I specifically wanted to connect prolife to the Civil Rights Movements and Black Lives Matter we hear more about today. Everyone loves Rosa Parks and Dr. King, so I decided to challenge people to follow in their steps because their work is not finished. All lives matter, and it is declared in our constitutional rights, so why do our laws not represent that? I wanted people to be shocked that a girl from Alabama stood in front of a nation and talked about the Civil Rights Movement, and then I wanted them to go home and question why they were even shocked in the first place. Hopefully, they realized that the Civil Rights Movement did not end with the work of Rosa Parks and Dr. King - I believed that the nation needed a reminder that our rights are still infringed upon, and that is unacceptable. Sometimes, you just need to address things from an unusual perspective in order to relate it to a different audience. That is what I tried to accomplish”.
Since the speech, Agnes mentioned all the loving and encouraging words she received from so many people close to her and even strangers at the March. She discussed how much she has grown in her faith and what an inspiration the entire event was for her personally. She is now more interested in pro-life politics and is in search of possible working as an intern for the March for Life.
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