The Walk for Life West Coast took place in San Francisco on Friday, January 19 and featured an array of pro-life speakers. Live Action president and founder Lila Rose spoke at the event, along with women and men who shared their own experiences with abortion.
Lila Rose: ‘The biggest changes span generations’
Rose told the crowd at the Walk for Life West Coast that despite the pro-abortion politics of California, there are millions of pro-lifers in the state helping to end abortion.
“We are here near the anniversary of Roe v. Wade celebrating its demise and celebrating life,” said Rose. “I have wonderful news to share with you, news that you helped make possible. Over 32,000 boys and girls have been saved because of the overturning of Roe v. Wade. So don’t let anyone tell you that darkness is winning.”
But, she said there is a “great darkness” in California. There are nine abortion facilities in San Francisco alone and more than 150 across California.
“During the pandemic, as businesses and churches were forcibly closed but abortion clinics were considered essential and permitted to remain open to kill, abortions increased in our beautiful state [by] approximately 22% to [an estimated] 188,000 children killed in 2023 alone.”
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, she noted, has now required that the abortion pill be distributed on all 11 California university campuses and 23 California State University campuses. Abortion on demand is now enshrined in the California state constitution.
“The situation we face has much darkness,” said Rose. “When we look at the darkness in this state and in our country, I know that it can be tempting to think that change is not coming or that change is not possible, but we would be wrong to think that. Often the biggest changes, the most important changes happen slowly, quietly, and without attention or fanfare. They are steady but the monumental changes that shape the centuries and the millennia. As human beings, we often think in terms of minutes or hours or days, maybe a few years, but the greatest changes are the work of generations, spanning lifetimes. So do not be discouraged by the evils around us, by the corruption, by the pro-death sentiment.”
She added, “Change is happening in California, the most meaningful and powerful change. That’s the great project of many of you here today – generational change, the foundational change of building a family, of raising a child, of building businesses, schools, churches, and homes, of a lifetime dedicated to family, to faith, and to community. The most important job of humanity is to recognize and cherish the value of every human life, to forge a path of progress for our future, our children. That’s why God made the world, and then He made man and women and He called us good because He wanted to see humanity blossom and grow. He wanted to see the world full of the most beautiful of all of creation — His children, human beings made in His image. The most sacred task of a mother and father is to raise the next generation.”
This is the long-term work, she said, which gives her hope because “the future belongs to those willing to put in the long-term work. The future belongs to children and the future belongs to families.” The pro-abortion side has no future, she said. It will self-destruct.
“We need to be involved, passionately involved in building new institutions and reinvigorating old ones in every part of society — entertainment, media, education, business, technology, news. This is our winning strategy. This is our light that overcomes the darkness. Family is our future.”
She called on pro-lifers to help the vulnerable because “life is greater than death and human life is future. Pro-life is the future.”
Silent No More
Mothers and fathers who experienced abortion shared their stories at the Walk for Life West Coast.
“Fifty years ago this spring, I was a 22-year-old coed graduating from college,” said Betsy. “I celebrated what I thought was going to be my new freedom, partying hardy and soon found myself pregnant. The father was willing to marry me, but when we went to my parents to tell them this, they said, ‘No this is not the way to go. You have a whole life ahead of you. This marriage is not going to work and you’re going to be saddled with a child. So let’s have an abortion.’ I was like a deer in headlights, not knowing what to do, frightened, ashamed, feeling guilty, so I went along with it.”
Six weeks later, Betsy learned the abortion had been botched and said it was “overwhelming.” Betsy became infertile, able to conceive but unable to carry to term. She became depressed, “dead inside,” she said. That’s when she found healing through Silent No More.
“I’m here to tell you that what looks like the easy way out is the path to bondage. I was held in chains of guilt and shame for nearly 30 years. How can something legal hurt so much?” she said.
Christina and Kenneth Garza
Christina Garza spoke of her mother’s abortion and how she underwent multiple miscarriages afterward, taking her pain out on her born children. For 36 years she lived with abortion grief until she found healing.
“What brought her healing was the walk to Jericho in 2013. She had a vision of my father, who is now deceased at this time,” said Garza, “holding a beautiful baby girl clothed in pink and white and they were both smiling.”
Christina’s husband Kenneth also shared his personal abortion story. His former girlfriend underwent an abortion though he offered to raise the baby alone as long as she didn’t abort. After the abortion, Kenneth said, “I didn’t care if I lived or died. To me, I felt the whole world fell out from underneath me.” He went to a dark place and began abusing drugs and alcohol. After meeting his wife and having two sons, he began to come out of his depression.
He said his wife Christina is like “a lighthouse that has guided me through the darkness.”
Debbie
Debbie recalled that her abortion nurse was “really nice” but the doctor came in and “said nothing.”
“Then it begins, this simple procedure becomes the most horrible, horrific pain — like being cut open from the inside. I remember squirming and crying and then my nice nurse holding me, telling me to stay still or it will get worse. Then [I remember] the doctor acting annoyed,” she said. She remembers the “clicking noise of the machine” as the “moment my child was murdered.” Debbie felt instant regret and soon turned to drinking and drugs to numb the pain. She had panic attacks and couldn’t work.
“It wasn’t until I went to a healing program that I was able to forgive myself, which was the hardest thing ever,” she said.
Elaine and Barry
Elaine was 19 and living “the party life” when she became pregnant and had an abortion because she felt she had that “right.” The media framed abortion as being about “a woman’s body and her right to choose abortion.” Even her doctor told her that “abortion was easy.”
Her husband Barry also spoke at the walk, saying he did not feel he was ready to be a father at the time and “the only reason we aborted our first child was because I gave no support to Elaine when she needed it.”
Elaine had the abortion and then suffered depression, suicidal thoughts, and drug and alcohol abuse. She struggled to bond with her firstborn son, who was born a year to the due date of the baby she had aborted.
During her third pregnancy, they saw their daughter on the nine-week ultrasound and came to realize they had “murdered their first child.” Elaine and Barry now stand up for life.
Frances
After her abortion at age 18, Frances struggled with guilt immediately. She went on to suffer an eating disorder and substance abuse in an attempt to numb her guilt. She thought of her baby every day, carrying her “wounds and shame silently for many years.”
Ten years ago, Frances took part in a Project Rachel abortion healing weekend, at which she “came face to face with the deep emotional wounds that I still carried from my abortion.” She was able to overcome substance abuse and the eating disorder, and found healing at last.
Irene
Irene said she knew having an abortion was wrong, but did it anyway because she was desperate and bought the lie that abortion would be a “quick fix” to her situation. She was affected physically, spiritually, and mentally with depression, an eating disorder, and anxiety because of the abortion.
Leslie
Leslie was sold abortion as “a simple procedure” that would let her “get on with [her] life.” But, she said, “It was painful and traumatic and I left never wanting to think about it again. I just wanted to get on with my life.” But Leslie was no longer able to concentrate on school and ended up dropping out of college. She struggled with guilt, shame, and self-hate until she found healing at a post-abortion retreat.
Mother Tabitha
Mother Tabitha said she was 28 and married for the second time with two young children when she underwent an abortion. Her husband wanted nothing to do with the child, and with no family support, she felt there was no way she could keep her baby. After the abortion, the nurse told her that her baby had been a girl, which left her feeling sad. She kept the abortion “a dark secret.” Though she had never been religious, she eventually began searching for something to fill the void in her life.
She found peace and repentance thanks to a priest and went on to enter an Orthodox monastery. She has now been a nun for 15 years.
Patti
Patti underwent two abortions three years apart. She said she was under financial stress during her first pregnancy and felt unable to care for a child. In the second pregnancy, she had a steady job, but her parents were concerned about her being a single mother and ruining the family’s reputation. The abortionist in both procedures was “unsympathetic” and she felt “humiliated.” Patti turned to alcohol and sex to numb the pain.
“I had a tubal ligation at the age of 30 subconsciously punishing myself for the abortions,” she said. “I didn’t deserve to be a mother.”
Patti hit rock bottom and contemplated suicide. “I was already dead inside. I just wanted to finish the job,” she said. Then, after attending a post-abortion retreat, Patti was finally able to find healing and end her self-destructive behavior.
