Butler County residents ready to attend March for Life on Friday
The March for Life will celebrate its 50th anniversary Friday, and, as usual, Butler County residents will be involved.
The largest and longest-running anti-abortion demonstration in the world was created in 1973 at the Washington, D.C., kitchen table of attorney Nellie Gray, who feared the Jan. 22 Supreme Court decision on Roe v. Wade would pass without public recognition.
Anita Theiss, regional coordinator for the national and state March for Life for Western Pennsylvania, said she is almost certain Butler County residents have been traveling to the nation’s capital for each of the last 49 years to support the lives of the unborn.
“People here are conservative,” Theiss said of county residents’ dedication to the anti-abortion movement. “They really respect life in general, and they try to speak out for those who cannot speak for themselves.”
She said even though Roe v. Wade was overturned last year, the March for Life will remain an important annual event.
The theme of this year’s national march is “Next Steps: Marching Forward Into A Post Roe America.”
“Things haven’t really changed,” Theiss said. “There are different ways that abortion is trying to legalize itself.
“Our prayers and our presence are still needed.”
She said three buses will leave Butler County on Friday morning to head south to the march in D.C.
At one time, the Western Pennsylvania chapter of March for life sent 160 buses from 11 counties, but Theiss said the coronavirus pandemic has affected numbers.
“It’s been hard to build back up because, as you know, COVID has not gone away,” Theiss said.
Theiss has attended the national March for Life since the 1980s, and both of the state marches over the past two years.
She also sits on the board of directors for People Concerned for the Unborn Child in Brookline, Allegheny County, and is a member of LifePAC, a anti-abortion political action group.
Ray Ferguson, of Butler Township, a longtime March for Life bus captain in the county, plans to attend his 35th march Friday.
He is in charge of coordinating riders on the bus that will drive marchers from the churches in All Saints Parish, who will meet on Friday morning at St. Conrad Catholic Church in the Meridian neighborhood of Butler Township, board the bus, and head to D.C.
Ferguson said 38 people have signed up from All Saints Parish.
Two other buses carrying marchers from several other churches in the county also will attend March for Life.
“I think it means people in the county value human life,” Ferguson said. “Those who want to march understand that every person is created in the image and likeness of God.”
He agreed that the annual March for Life must continue even though Roe v. Wade has been overturned.
“There is still legislation that is going to happen at the (U.S.) congressional level,” Ferguson said. “We have to continue to make national politicians aware that we want to be a anti-abortion nation.”
He said the first hour of the March activities include keynote speakers at the Washington Monument.
This year’s speakers include Jonathan Roumie, an actor who plays Jesus Christ in “The Chosen,” a series about the birth of Christianity; former football coach Tony Dungy; and the Rev. Franklin Graham, the son of the late Billy Graham.
Following the keynote addresses, the crowd will march to the U.S. Capitol Building, about three miles away.
Ferguson said the walk takes about 2½ hours, and many carry homemade signs or versions handed out when marchers disembark from their buses.
“It takes that long because so many people can’t walk at a normal pace,” he said.
Residents of the 16th congressional district then will visit U.S. Rep. Mike Kelly at his office near the Capitol Building, where he will address the group and speak to marchers.
“He has a lot of supporters in the anti-abortion community,” Ferguson said.
Kelly and other anti-abortion politicians hold a reception for the marchers from their districts, where coffee, soft drinks and snacks are available.
The group will then return to its bus, which plans to stop in Bedford for dinner before returning to St. Conrad at about 11 p.m.
Asked how he feels about 2023 marking the 50th anniversary of the March for Life, Ferguson said he wishes the event were not necessary.
“On the other hand, I think we’ll do it for 50 more years if we have to,” he said.
People interested in riding one of the buses to March for Life should visit phlbutler.org.
