A peaceful protest
More than 100 Liberty students join thousands to protest abortion and make a stand for the sanctity of life in Washington, D.C. Friday, Jan. 27
GATHER — March attendees carried signs with phrases for pro-life awareness.
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Liberty University’s pro-life club, Lifeline, took two buses filled with a total of 97 Liberty students to The March for Life in Washington, D.C. Friday, Jan. 27 to protest abortion.
The number of students who attended exceeded just Lifeline, which has 15 members.
Other students attended the march but did not use Liberty’s transportation.
“A lot of the students who went were not there because they were members but because they were just genuinely really interested in the event,” President of Lifeline Andrea Piper said.
“There were students from the health honor society, communication classes and students who see the march as their contribution toward the pro-life movement.”
The buses left campus at 6 a.m. and returned Friday night.
The day consisted of a rally, the march up Constitution Avenue to the Capitol, and hearing various speakers, including Vice President Mike Pence.
“My favorite part of the march was hearing Representative Mia Love’s speech about her Haitian immigrant parents who chose not to abort her,” Lifeline member Daniel Degner said.
Degner said the testimony from former Planned Parenthood Director Abby Johnson was also a big highlight for him.
This year, the number of students who signed up for the march nearly doubled in size from last year’s list of 50 students.
“The pro-life club has always strived, since we first started, to get to The March for Life,” Piper said.
“It is a no-brainer that we would get a group of students to go, being that it is the biggest annual anti-abortion event in the country.”
The March for Life began in 1974, the year after the controversial 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court case was decided, according to the march’s website.
RAISE AWARENESS — A group of Liberty students held signs in front of the Capitol.
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“What the march really stands for is the sanctity of life, social justice for the unborn, and making a positive change in America,” Degner said.
The march started as a demonstration against the court ruling that made abortion legal in America.
The march takes place annually near Jan. 22, the date of the court case.
“The March for Life is unique in the sense that it is extremely peaceful, and it did not become a riot like so many other marches do,” Liberty senior Stephen Sneed said.
“I think it was in all of our minds that being there could be dangerous because of everything that has been going on lately, but I actually did not feel like that at all when I was at the march.”
The March for Life had been predominately made up of Catholics in the past, but this year there was a large influx of Evangelicals participating in the march, according to the Washington Post.
“It was so encouraging getting around other Christians at the march and learning how I can better spread the pro-life message here at Liberty,” Degner said.
“It is a life transforming event to have the opportunity to network with people who are doing amazing things for the anti-abortion movement and for Christ.”