March For Life Dallas 2012: Inside Kristen’s iPhone

This is my attempt to shut up for a minute and let pictures do the talking. It goes against my every natural instinct to run my mouth, but I will try. Here we go!

Curtain up: The Cathedral Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Dallas, Texas, broods under a cloudy sky. Except it was actually not very broody but kind of festive. And it wasn’t really cloudy either. It was, however, so cold my hands could barely work my iPhone.

At this point, priests and other important folks were filing in. Every seat was full an hour before the Roe Memorial Mass began at 10 am. I was outside in the cold live tweeting because I am a noble journalist who makes brave sacrifices for you, the reader.

Check this kid out! He’s taking pictures of priests while I take pictures of him. The whole place was crawling with children and teenagers. There is hope for future generations.

Mary Statue

In the courtyard, as the cathedral square filled up with early-arriving marchers and Catholics watching Mass on the closed circuit TV screen, there was a quiet spot off to one side where I found this statue.

Family Sign

I saw a man with a couple of cute kids standing nearby, holding homemade signs. I said, “May I take a picture of your kids?” He said, “Sure!” And called over like three more. I almost had to go panoramic on this one. They were so precious and sweet, and once again I felt a surge of hope inside me.

This image stopped me in my tracks when I saw it in my phone. This little girl had wandered just a little way off from her large family, but she looks completely alone, doesn’t she? She is barely out of diapers, and almost as helpless as an unborn child. Like an unborn child, she would be doomed on her own, separated from her mother, and could only rely on the kindness of strangers to survive. An unborn baby whose mother wants to abort is just like this little girl. Were she to be abandoned or lost, we wouldn’t walk past her and let her fend for herself. Neither should we walk past those children abandoned in the womb. Their mothers, out of ignorance, fear, coercion, or selfishness, may have forsaken them, but we cannot and will not.

Jeez, sorry to get all serious. Someone was passing these out. I thought they were very to-the-point. Lots and lots of abortions happen around seven weeks. Some women don’t even know they’re pregnant until after seven weeks. A clinic will tell them it’s just a “clump of cells” at seven weeks. And it is: brain cells, skin cells, eye cells, heart cells, etc., arranged in the form of a person. Kind of like, well, me!

So, I am VP of this awesome group called New Wave Feminists, and our distinguished founder and president Destiny De La Rosa decided to haul her pregnant butt up there and tweeted this photo on the way.

The Strong Choose Life

Destiny and her husband Abrahm prepare to march. Destiny is a master sign maker. Observe. She is also, apparently, a master baby maker. That’s baby number four, Eunitas, incubating. I’ll have you know he was born yesterday (four days after this photo was taken) in a surprise home birth of the “water slide” variety; he came out unexpectedly feet first. She gave birth on the floor of her living room surrounded by about ten firefighters and paramedics. But he was worth it, don’t you think?

Kids help out gathering signs.

When I was taking this photo, a woman next to me said, “That says it all, doesn’t it?” It sure does. Little kids get it that abortion is wrong. It’s a “duh” to them. When we get older and start imagining there are shades of gray to everything we lose sight of what things really are. Many things are mystifying to us as children, but the really obvious things are, well, really obvious. Any six-year-old will tell you it’s wrong to kill a baby in its mommy’s tummy, but by 36 she has made up all sorts of bull corn to make it sound right.

Choo Choo Choose Life

This is my favorite sign ever. Last year, we were having our Annual New Wave Feminists Sign Drinking Wine Making Party. I was really struggling with my sign. I am great at arguments, terrible at slogans. Everyone else was almost done with their sign, and I was still stuck. I was finally so frustrated that I was just going to write “What’s the big deal, just have the baby” on a piece of posterboard, when the idea for “Choo-Choo-Choose Life” hit me. I proceeded to make probably the crappiest sign in the history of the world. I was fine with carrying it, but Destiny, who takes OCD to new and exciting heights, waited until we all went home, and stayed up til the wee hours redoing my sign. And it was so awesome I couldn’t even be mad at her.

Life Ballons

These balloons looked so cool bobbing around. They made for a great photo in the Dallas Morning News. Oh, except, no they didn’t, because the DMN wasn’t there!

Human Rights

I love this sign because it’s true.

Here we go! The march has begun.

Marching for Life

This picture is so pro-life feministy. I really love it. Destiny walked the whole four miles, four days before her due date.

Arriving at Anti-Abortion Rally

Arriving at the rally site in front of the Earle Cabell Federal Building, where the original suit in the Roe case was filed. It all started in Dallas, folks. We’re sorry! And we’d really like for it to end here.

Eight thousand people were gathered here. Our biggest year ever! So big we needed 33 police escorts, a law enforcement command station, a helicopter fly-over, and half of downtown closed down.

But according to the DMN, it wasn’t news.

The rally! Organizers Karen Garnett of Catholic Pro-Life Committee and Kyleen Wright, president of Texans for Life Coalition, who sponsored the bill known as the Sonogram Law, put together an inspiring program, including praise and worship music by Christ for the Nations and a short speech from Roe herself, Norma McCorvey.

We marched back. By this time, after about five hours outside in the cold, I was ready to call it a day. Destiny was, too. We were looking forward to our traditional post-march Chili’s adventure to an embarrassing degree. By that point, I would go so far as to say we were marching for Chili’s.

But mostly for life.

Did you March for Life this year? It happens all over the country. Make the decision now to join one next year, and let’s make it the biggest, baddest thing that ever happened in the United States. Let’s decide now to make it a million in D.C., and another million nationwide.

Let’s be impossible to ignore.

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Kristen Walker makes people mad on the Internet and sometimes tweets.

  • Paul Blanchard

    I loved this piece.  Your pictures are awesome and your insights to go along with them were uplifting.  God bless you and Live Action for the vital work you do so well!

  • bubbalouwee

    Can any of those “I am a Person” signs be ordered on a T-shirt?  What would happen if pro lifers wore apparel defending the unborn like fans wear apparel in support of a team?  We should keep the pro life message at the forefront year round. 

    • Cheri

      http://www.abort73.com/gear/shirts/

      I bought a shirt from Abort73 and it works like a charm. Every time I wear it, people want to know what it’s about and it gives you the opportunity to introduce people to the pro-life movement :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Bobby-Rodriguez/1041371491 Bobby Rodriguez

    Yea, a bunch of hyper breeding Hispanics that have yet to discover where babies come from.  No wonder the drop out rate in our group is so poor.

  • Cheri

    I am so totally making a popsicle stick protest sign to put on my baby belly. I’ll be wearing it at 40 Days for Life! ^_^