Editorial
Events offer a reminder we must continue protecting life
Our faith teaches us we are called to protect all human life from conception to natural death.
Unfortunately, some in society have other beliefs.
We see some embracing euthanasia and assisted suicide to prematurely end lives.
And despite the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in June of 2022, which returned the legal issue of abortion back to individual states, some are still seeking to keep abortion legal at all costs in parts of the United States.
Ohio voters last November approved Issue 1, a measure that will codify abortion access in the state’s constitution through fetal viability, typically understood to be 24 weeks gestation—and beyond, if a physician decided an abortion was necessary for the sake of the mother’s life or health.
The loss marked another electoral defeat for pro-life ballot measures in the wake of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision. In 2022, voters in California, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana and Vermont either rejected new limitations on abortion or expanded legal protections for it.
That is why—in our nation’s capital, in Indianapolis and in other cities across the U.S.—we still mark the anniversary of the now-overturned Jan. 22, 1973, Roe v. Wade decision and continue to march for mothers and their unborn children and for the conversion of those who support abortion.
In recent issues of The Criterion, we have encouraged people of faith to attend the Indiana March for Life, which will be held on Jan. 22 in downtown Indianapolis.
As in years past, the 2024 Indiana March for Life schedule of events begins with a vigil at St. John the Evangelist Church in Indianapolis on the evening of Jan. 21. The vigil includes a 7 p.m. Mass, followed by eucharistic adoration from 8-10 p.m. That time will include prayer, music and a talk by one or more members of the New York-based Sisters of Life. Confession will also be available.
On Jan. 22 in the Indiana Convention Center, the public is also invited to visit pro-life booths starting at 9 a.m. prior to attending an 11:30 a.m. Mass for Life—concelebrated by four of the state’s five bishops, including Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson. Parishioners from all five Indiana dioceses will be in attendance.
Right to Life of Indianapolis will sponsor a pre-march rally from 1-1:30 p.m. at the intersection of Georgia Street and Capitol Avenue.
Then all are invited to gather at Georgia and Illinois streets from 1:30-1:45 p.m. for the march to the south steps of the Indiana Statehouse from 1:45-2:30 p.m.
A post-march rally with speakers will take place there until 3 p.m.
For more information on the events, the schedule, travel and parking details, go to cutt.ly/INMFL2024 (case sensitive).
In announcing last November the national March for Life’s theme for its Jan. 19 event in Washington—“Pro-Life: With Every Woman, For Every Child”—March for Life president Jeanne Mancini said that following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Dobbs, she wanted to highlight the work the pro-life movement does to support women facing difficult or unplanned pregnancies.
Mancini said the theme was selected because “the false narrative around abortion, whether it’s through mainstream media or the entertainment industry or academia, is that abortion is empowering and necessary.”
As Catholics and people of faith, we believe nothing could be further from the truth. Mancini said as much.
“We disagree,” she said. “Such fear-based messaging tries to convince women who are facing unexpected pregnancies that they’re alone, that they are incapable, that they are ill-equipped to handle motherhood. We who are here today know that is just not true. We aren’t saying that it’s easy. But we are saying that it is right to choose life and we hold that choosing life is empowering, and that love saves lives.”
In the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, there are many resources available to help expectant mothers and their unborn children in central and southern Indiana. Visit walkingwithmomsindy.org for more information.
If you are unable to attend any of the Jan. 21 and 22 events, we encourage you to pray: pray for the success of the gatherings, pray for a conversion of hardened or uninformed hearts, and pray for an end to abortion.
Please Lord, may it be so.
—Mike Krokos