Millennials stand up for life

By Lisa Browne Banic - Florida Catholic Miami

Photography: LISA BROWNE BANIC | FC

SOUTHWEST RANCHES | Students and teachers, moms and dads, neighbors and curious visitors from throughout South Florida’s Christian, Jewish and other communities — about 1,000 people of all ages — came together the morning of Jan. 17 at Archbishop Edward McCarthy High School to “Walk for Life” and proclaim this year’s theme, “Every Life is a Gift.”

Proceeds from the walk, which has been held for the past 14 years at the high school, benefit the Hollywood Respect Life Office, where hundreds of women and families receive in-kind and educational support before, during and after their babies are born.

Similar walks took place the same day in two other locations, Our Lady Queen of Heaven in North Lauderdale and Msgr. Edward Pace High School in Miami Gardens; a fourth took place a week earlier at St. Clement in Fort Lauderdale; and a final one will take place next Saturday, Jan. 24, at St. John Vianney College Seminary in Miami.

Statistics show today’s younger generation is more pro-life and not afraid to challenge the so-called right or “choice” to abort.

“I am here because these kids don’t have a voice before they are born,” said Gabriella Rodriguez, president of Archbishop McCarthy High’s Respect Life Club. “Even those born with disorders or challenges have a purpose in this world. Who are we to decide they don’t?”

Gabriella attends Archbishop McCarthy on a Respect Life Scholarship. Her mother is from California and her father is from Cuba. “Everything you’ll ever be from the moment of conception is already there,” she said.

But Rodriguez is not the only local millennial who stands strong in the pro-life teachings of the Catholic Church.  

“Today, the students really put their hearts, and a lot of hours and hard work, into raising awareness of the gift of life that God has given all of us,” said Chris Covone, theology chair at Archbishop McCarthy and Respect Life Club moderator. The club has 60 members, 20 of whom are boys.

Many others at the walk expressed similar convictions.

“I was so young and it was over 20 years ago, but I wish I didn’t (abort my baby),” said a mother of three teenagers who attends the march every year and wished to remain anonymous.

“I hope being here helps other babies get the chance to live. My children do not know they have an older sibling who was aborted. God had a plan for my first child and the world will never know,” she said.

“For seven years I have brought my family here,” said another mother, Patricia O’Connor-Grant, whose children attend Archbishop McCarthy. “I have raised my children to know that life starts at conception. I mean the heart starts beating in the first few weeks so how can there not be life?”

A younger “walker” on his scooter circled a few times before saying, “I’m here for the babies.”

Noah, 9, smiled big for the camera and preceded to tell how he and his four siblings are home-schooled and that they all know the truth. “We are alive in our mom’s tummy but it’s so sad many people don’t care about that,” he said.

“I was told I couldn’t because of endometriosis and now I have three children,” said Liliana Simko, parishioner of St. Maximilian Kolbe, Pembroke Pines. “I work for a hospital and I’ve given sonograms and seen these babies and heard their hearts beat. One day I had an ultrasound when I wasn’t feeling good and when I heard the heartbeat I knew I had a life inside of me.”

That 3-week point in her pregnancy was her first born, Sebastin, 14, who attended the march.

From 9 a.m. to noon, scooters, strollers and a few wheelchairs looped around the track at Archbishop McCarthy High, with many stopping to read the pro-life signs strategically placed along the path.

One said, “Everyone who supported slavery was free; everyone who supports abortion was born.”

Another said: “They’re not really people – We’ve heard that before.”

Still another read: “A person’s a person, no matter how small” from the Dr. Seuss book “Horton Hears a Who!”

Gabriella, wearing a Respect Life Club T-shirt, was overheard telling her friend, “I used to read that to kindergarten students and talk about how life starts at conception.”

She added later: “My mom and dad raised me with the value of human life and I am so fascinated. I want kids to understand this too. I want to get into obstetrics.”

Prior to the walk, McCarthy High hosted a Respect Life Week where representatives of the archdiocese’s Respect Life Ministry spoke to the students on various issues including chastity, abortion, and marriage and family life.

“Hopefully next year — we say this every year — we will gather at our march to celebrate the end of abortion,” said Covone.

This year marks the 42nd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. More than 150 young people from the archdiocese will be taking part in the largest annual pro-life gathering, the March for Life on the National Mall, Jan. 22 in Washington, D.C.