The 51st annual March for Life takes place on Friday in Washington, D.C., and pro-lifers from around the nation are arriving to attend the March and its associated events. Peter Wolfgang, president of the Family Institute of Connecticut, is in attendance and spotted a poster there that asks young pro-lifers to share their reasons for attending the March for Life. But the group behind the poster came as a surprise — and it intends to manipulate.
The poster asks, “Why do students really go to the March for Life?” It lists three possible responses, including, “I wanted to visit D.C.!” “I earned extra credit!” and “I got excused from midterms!” The poster asks students to “Tell us your reason” and includes a QR code for a survey.
That QR code leads to a webpage created by Catholics for Choice, a pro-abortion organization that claims “the majority of Catholics… believe in reproductive freedom.” Wolfgang said the posters are on traffic lights on K Street.
Catholics for Choice poster spotted in Washington D.C. at the March for Life 2024. Photo courtesy of Peter Wolfgang. Do not reprint without permission.
“They must be desperate to delegitimize the presence of so many young people at the March,” said Wolfgang. “It must be one of the reasons [Catholics for Choice gives] that brought all those students here, you see. It couldn’t possibly be that they are against the genocide of their own generation… by people like Fake-Catholics for Abortion.”
It’s entirely possible that even if a student states she is attending the March to get extra credit, she could still be pro-life. These are not mutually exclusive. Being pro-life and wanting extra credit can both be true at the same time. This is also the case for the students who say they want to visit D.C. or be excused from their midterms.
Catholics for Choice is avoiding the real question it should be asking: what the students think of legalized abortion. The survey states, “Students from across the country attend the March for Life for many different reasons… And it’s not always for the reason their chaperones think. Some come because they wanted to visit Washington D.C., and others are offered extra credit or excused from big tests for attending.”
It then says, “We want to hear from YOU! Why do you attend the March for Life?”
Catholics for Choice survey (Screenshot)
Any answer the group receives can be misrepresented as the sole reason the student has attended the March. In addition, it requires the student to enter her name and email address with the option of adding her postal code and cellphone number.
Catholics for Choice will then have the contact information of potentially countless students —which can be used to send pro-abortion propaganda to pro-life youth under the guise of Catholic material.
The Catholic Church remains strong in its stance against abortion at any stage of pregnancy regardless of the reason. Catholics for Choice cites research from the Pew Research Center that says 56% of Catholics believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. But when looking at the survey results of Catholics who are actually practicing the faith and attending Mass weekly, 68% think abortion should be illegal in all or most cases.
