Coalition Life, the nationally-renowned sidewalk counseling organization, hosted the largest annual public pro-life gathering in the St. Louis region on Saturday, March 23 without a single pro-abortion protester attempting to disrupt the event.
“We had spent a considerable amount of time planning security for the march, given the threats and intimidation that we have seen in the past, but we didn’t really need it,” said Brian Westbrook, Executive Director of Coalition Life. “The lack of push-back from pro-abortion groups was a surprise, especially with their huge effort to collect petition signatures in Missouri for a ballot initiative that would add abortion to the state constitution. We thought they would be out in full force, but there was absolutely nothing from the other side.”
The seventh annual March on the Arch took place in downtown St. Louis, beginning at Aloe Plaza across from St. Louis Union Station with hundreds of pro-life people attending a rally and a walk to the St. Louis Arch. The event featured emcee Annie Frey, host of Fox News Radio’s The Annie Frey Show on 97.1 FM Talk, headlining a slate of speakers including: Reagan Barklage, National Field Director for Students for Life; Steve Rupp, President of Missouri Right to Life; Samuel Lee, President of Missouri Stands with Women; Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, President of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, and Brian Westbrook of Coalition Life.
The initiative petition was a hot topic among the speakers, who took the rally as an opportunity to galvanize pro-lifers against the dangerous effort to enshrine abortion in Missouri’s constitution.
“Abortion in the state of Missouri has been banned,” said Steve Rupp of Missouri Right to Life. “We have passed 52 pro-life laws over the past 50 years and now those laws are being threatened by people that want to put killing innocent children into our constitution.”
Rupp and other speakers educated the crowd about the Decline to Sign effort coordinated by several pro-life organizations in the state to inform the public about the misleading language of those seeking to get enough signatures to add the abortion initiative to the ballot in November. The group is also working in the state capitol on reforms to the initiative petition process.
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“As we stand here advocating for life, dozens of people are standing throughout our state collecting signatures, seeking to take that right away from the most innocent among us,” said Reagan Barklage of Students for Life. “They are being paid by big out-of-state companies trying to reverse all of the progress that has been made to protect life in Missouri. We won’t fall for it!”
Sam Lee, a founding member of Missouri Stands with Women and a long-time pro-life state lobbyist, rounded out the information about the Decline to Sign initiative and the efforts of his lobbying group to mount a response to the petition effort.
“Today we face the threat of Missouri’s constitution being altered and perverted by an extreme abortion initiative petition so that our own state’s bill of rights will include a right to abortion that is far more extensive than Roe vs. Wade ever brought us,” said Lee. “What we do over the next 43 days is crucial. If they cannot collect enough signatures, this will never make it to the ballot at all.”
In addition to practical information to combat the current initiative petition, the crowd was encouraged by the inspirational words of their religious leaders, including Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, President of The Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod, who compared the post-Dobbs abortion landscape to the Christian understanding of death and resurrection.
“Roe is gone! But the damage is inestimable. America’s conscience, moral and religious, has died,” said Rev. Dr. Matthew C. Harrison, President of the Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod. “I am overcome with sorrow at the events since Roe fell, as once powerfully pro-life states have taken decided turns towards death. I shall weep by the tomb of the moral conscience of Illinois until it rises from the grave. But I shall also rejoice. I am rejoicing for each one of you who realize that while Dobbs rejected a constitutional right to abortion, an unborn child has no constitutional right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, even today. I am rejoicing for the state of Missouri, and praying she will not fail.”
Following the rally, marchers walked one mile to the Gateway Arch to show their support for life and their opposition to efforts to expand abortion.
While the March on the Arch was planned and organized by Coalition Life, it was actually a joint effort of many sponsoring organizations including Lutherans for Life, The Archdiocese of St. Louis Respect Life Apostolate, Missouri Stands with Women, Pro-Life Ministry at St. Gianna Catholic Church, Missouri Right to Life, Vitae Foundation and Knights of Columbus Bonnots Mill Council.
For more information on the initiative petition in Missouri and the pro-life Decline to Sign effort, visit: CoalitionLife.com, MissouriLife.org or MoStandsWithWomen.org.
Coalition Life is a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization with a Mission of ENDING Abortion… Peacefully and Prayerfully. Founded in St. Louis, Missouri in 2011 by Brian Westbrook as Coalition for Life St. Louis, the organization provides sidewalk counseling and pregnancy resources at six sites in Kansas, Missouri and Illinois, and continues to grow as a national leader in the frontline effort to provide alternatives to abortion. Differentiated by its professional staff of sidewalk counselors and proven approach to successfully reach women who desire options and resources, Coalition Life created and perfected “The St. Louis Method” of sidewalk counseling that has resulted in more than 4,000 turnarounds outside of abortion facilities and countless lives saved. For more information visit CoalitionLife.com.
LifeNews Note: Melissa Barreca does Public Relations for Coalition for Life. Photo Credit: Cameron McCarty – Director of Marketing, Coalition Life.
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