On Jan. 21, half a million people flooded the streets of Washington to participate in the Women’s March on Washington to advocate for, as one not-so-eloquent marcher put it, “just in general, women’s rights.”
The March was used as a demonstration for a laundry list of concerns, some legitimate and some abstract and vague to the point of meaningless, all united by a strong belief in universal human rights. The March organizers state in their “Guiding Vision and Definition of Principles” that “human rights” are the “basic and original tenet from which all our values stem.”
Marchers and media alike paint the protest as though it was the dawn of the fight for human rights. Any facet of the March that can be used to highlight the “never before seen” turnout is being exploited, including the strain put on the D.C. mobile networks.
While the media was busy drooling over cell phone coverage, they failed to cover the irony undermining the integrity of the Women’s March. And where irony wasn’t punching holes in the fabric of the marchers’ brand new pink crocheted hats, tragedy was making up for it.
While the Marchers did seek to advance a variety of causes, the most consistent was the demand for abortion and birth control. Despite their claims of inclusivity, the March excluded a number of pro-life groups because, as former presidential candidate Carly Fiorina said, “apparently they don’t believe in a right to choose what [women are] going to believe.”
The March’s overwhelming and widespread support for abortion completely undermines its “moral imperative.” Science proves again and again that human life begins at conception. Abortion advocates have even conceded the point. So why are the unborn being excluded from what claims to be the most inclusive demonstration in history? Not only are they being excluded, but Marchers danced on their graves, in a tragic and blatant disregard for the innocent. Women no longer want “safe, rare and legal” abortions, they want babies ripped from the womb just to show they can, and they want you to pay for it. The Women’s March completely and utterly failed to promote human rights, they succeeded only in promoting their own self-serving agenda.
Laughably, Pastor Sylvia Baker-Noren of Tompkinsville, Kentucky’s First United Methodist Church told reporters that the women marching “want to be able to remember that all persons have human rights. All persons… regardless of their situation.”
It is because of my firm conviction in these principles that I have utter disregard and borderline disgust for the Women’s March, which fails to accomplish its even most basic objectives: to promote human dignity.
I instead choose to turn my effort and attention to the March for Life, taking place this Friday in Washington, D.C. This year marks the 43rd year of demonstration in support of basic human rights at the March for Life, which draws just as many, if not more, marchers. The peaceful protest set a record in 2013, with 650,000 people in attendance. Hillsdale College’s Students for Life club alone will be bussing in an incredible 97 students this year.
The March for Life is the true cry for human rights. The pro-life message is incredible: choosing life is the ultimate extension of love, charity, and selflessness. The rejection of abortion means that women must put their own position and feelings aside and think of someone else, someone who is innocent and at their complete mercy. Is there any higher expression of love? Yet, Women’s Marchers tromped around, toting “Love Trumps Hate” posters in one hand and “Abortion for All” in the other. Not to mention that life is an actual human right, whereas abortion is a human right only in the imagination of the very creative. You simply do not have the right to take away someone else’s human right to life.
Thankfully, us women have the opportunity to walk in the March for Life this Friday, supporting actual human rights and showing true love; demonstrating that women do have the power to change the world for our daughters — and without wearing vulgarities on our heads.
Ms. Russo is a sophomore studying American Studies and is the Event Coordinator for Students for Life.