Seats are available on comfortable coach buses that will leave four churches in the early hours of Monday, Sept. 23, for the 4th annual Pennsylvania March for Life.

The event will be held from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the state Capitol in Harrisburg.

A pre-rally concert at 9 a.m. will kick off the 2024 state March for Life on a stage set up in front of the Capitol steps.

Speakers will take the stage starting at 11 a.m.

The 2024 speakers are Mary Houck, anti-abortion activist and co-founder and president of The King’s Men; Michael Geer, president of Pennsylvania Family Institute; Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life Education and Defense Fund; and Archbishop Nelson Perez, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Philadelphia.

Those who are able will also embark on a short march around the Capitol building around noon to demonstrate their solidarity in the effort to eliminate abortion in the state and nation.

Others eschew the march in favor of visiting with any Butler County state representatives or senators who are available.

“Stephanie Scialabba and Marci Mustello are very welcoming of us,” said Gretchen Cararie, march organizer at St. Mark the Evangelist Parish.

A Catholic Mass will then be offered at the Cathedral of St. Patrick, which is near the Capitol building.

Cararie said her bus will first pick up passengers at 5:30 a.m. at St. Andrew Roman Catholic Church in Center Township, 1660 North Main Street Extension.

The bus will then stop at Holy Sepulcher Roman Catholic Church, 1304 East Cruikshank Road in Middlesex Township at 6 a.m.

Cost to ride either of those buses, which will return to Butler County at 7:30 p.m., is $30 per person, $15 for students, and free for children age 10 and younger.

Cararie said the bus ride takes 3.5 to 4 hours. During that time, passengers will take part in prayer and discussions about the anti-abortion platform.

She said those signing up to ride the bus represent a mix of anti-abortion supporters.

“We have families, teens and some (students) from North Catholic High School,” Cararie said.

She said the state and local March for Life events are more important now than ever.

“I just feel that since the Supreme Court ruled that states have the right to make decisions about abortion, that we need to work at the state level,” Cararie said.

She recalled one state March for Life when a pregnant woman who was planning to have an abortion happened upon the rally and the mobile ultrasound unit parked there.

Cararie said the woman had an ultrasound on the spot and received help from March for Life officials, including a referral to one of the pregnancy care centers in Harrisburg.

“Life is such an important issue and the state now has the ability to promote or restrict abortion,” she said. “We’re asking please don’t allow this to happen and don’t allow people to be pressured to make this decision.”

She said the vibe on the bus is quite different on the ride back to Butler County after the events at the rally.

“It’s a very beautiful experience. On the way down, people are more reserved and quiet, getting to know each other,” Cararie said. “On the way back, it’s really vibrant and exciting.”

To sign up for a seat on the St. Mark the Evangelist bus, call Ron Hartzell at 724-496-4771.

Another bus to the state March for Life will leave St. Ferdinand Roman Catholic Church in Cranberry Township on the morning of Sept. 23.

Glenn Goss, of Gibsonia, is helping coordinate a bus to leave at 6:30 a.m. from his church, Gospel Fellowship Presbyterian Church in Middlesex Township.

He said the church is covering the cost of the bus, but a collection will be taken to tip the driver.

“It’s a 56-passenger bus,” Goss said. “We’d love to fill it up.”

He has attended both state and national March for Life on many occasions, and said Gospel Fellowship is an anti-abortion congregation.

“We support life from conception to natural death, and a powerful way to express that is to join like-minded people at our state Capitol to march and stand for life,” Goss said. “We will be marching for the rights of the unborn and the abolition of abortion.”

To reserve a seat on the Gospel Fellowship bus, call the church office at 724-898-3322.

Anita Theiss, Southwestern Pennsylvania coordinator for People Concerned for the Unborn, said the three state March for Life events held so far have drawn about 5,000 people.

“Every year, it’s increasing and you have a chance to lobby with your state representative and senator,” she said.

She agrees with Cararie that the fight to abolish abortion must not end with the overturning of Roe vs. Wade.

“It’s important for us to stand up for those who cannot speak for themselves,” Theiss said.

She said 20 buses are heading for Harrisburg that day from Butler, Allegheny, Washington, Indiana and Westmoreland counties.

Theiss said she is happy to coordinate the buses from Western Pennsylvania to the state March for Life.

“I feel like I’m doing something,” she said. “It’s such a big issue and I’ve got to do something, whatever that may be.”