August 30, 2023
Crashing a pro-abortion women’s march is always an adventure — especially when you nearly outnumber them with pro-life demonstrators as we did in Homestead, Pennsylvania. Here’s what happened:
When I recently arrived to Frick Park where the Women’s March was supposed to happen, I waited around for abortion supporters to show up…and I kept waiting for a while. Meanwhile, an army of pro-life students from University of Pittsburgh (UPitt) and Franciscan University of Steubenville showed up to counter protest, walking in stride with signs that read “Pro-Life, Pro-Woman” and “We are the Post-Roe Generation.”
The funny thing was, however, we weren’t really sure where the Women’s March participants were lining up because there were only six of them initially. Finally, when the rally began to start, they had around 20 – 30 people. We nearly outnumbered them with volunteers just from one Students for Life of America (SFLA) chapter.
For most of the pro-life students counter protesting that day, this was their first time, but they handled it like professionals. We stood about 20 yards from where the pro-abortion rally was happening, praying aloud and being a presence for life. The juxtaposition of calm, loving, joyful pro-lifers prayerfully holding signs with the angry, vulgar screeching of pro-abortion supporters was a sight to behold.
Pro-lifers responded to their wild antics with hymns and smiles and even tried to hold conversations with some of the abortion supporters. Unsurprisingly, however, we were met with the typical snide comment or dismissive behavior.
We followed the Women’s March with our own banner and stopped in downtown Homestead along a busy intersection. To our delight, an encouraging number of cars gave us happy honks and thumbs up. This impromptu life-chain brought cheers and smiles from our group.
Maintaining a peaceful and happy pro-life presence outside these events is essential. You never know who is watching, and you never know who you will instill hope in. We were able to be in the background of the local news, and no doubt brought smiles to people’s faces, as evidenced by our impromptu life-chain.
Invictus Fellow and Officer in University of Pittsburgh’s Pro-Life Chapter Domenic Colangelo had this to say about the experience:
“Well, it was a blast. It was kind of awkward when we outnumbered them. But we got people honking and excited about us, and we just kind of sang some hymns at them and had some fun!”
The Pro-Life Generation showed up, and we are proud to have groups like Choose Life at Pitt to help us lead the charge and drive the national narrative that life is winning! And it’s only going to get better.
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