Tens of thousands of pro-lifers are expected to converge Jan. 24 in San Francisco for the 22nd annual Walk for Life West Coast, many of them young people: why do they believe this witness is so important?
A Jan. 6 article by Valerie Schmalz on the Archdiocese of San Francisco profiled several young adults who will be attending the Walk for Life.
“It is important to show our city, and our country, that people care about life, and are willing to fight for it,” Mason Friedberg, a member of Star of the Sea Parish young adults’ group.
Megan Sauter, a recent alumna of Santa Clara University, attended the Walk for Life last year. While there, she took part in singing the rosary. She recalled how a group of pro-abortion protestors shouted insults at her and the rest of her group.
“I remember getting nervous,” she said, according to the Archdiocese of San Francisco. “Then, I thought, no, no, this is actually what I am called to. This is me, living my vocation.”
Some of Sauter’s fellow attendees serve as a reminder that those who disagree may eventually come to defend life. Gabe Valencia was once pro-choice, but today he opposes abortion and leads a youth group at St. Joseph Parish in Mountain View.
“Every single person who has ever walked on this planet has existed in the mind of God for all eternity,” Valencia said, according to the Archdiocese of San Francisco. “The reality of what is done to the unborn. It is very cruel. It would not be done to other living beings.”
Sauter, who is the volunteer director of marketing for an 1,800-member group in Silicon Valley called Catholic Young Adults, said marching is how she and other young adults protect the weakest and most vulnerable. She added that this includes individuals who are disabled, elderly people who are neglected, and mothers who are struggling to protect their babies as well as women who were told there was no support for their pregnancies.
Sauter explained that her Catholic faith helps her to see beyond contemporary political polarization and stand up for the truth.
“What I love about being Catholic is that it is not a political allegiance,” she said, according to the Archdiocese of San Francisco. “Despite what the government promises, my community will step in, independent of right or left or gender or age. We know all lives truly matter.”
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