Anticipation that this will be the year the U.S. Supreme Court reverses its Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion in the United States was the principal theme of speakers at this year’s Roe Remembrance event at the Ohio Statehouse Atrium.
“I’m prayerfully optimistic that this will be the year Roe v. Wade is committed to the dustbin of history,” said Beth Vanderkooi, executive director of Greater Columbus Right to Life, sponsor of the rally that annually marks the anniversary of the decision. This year’s rally took place on Monday, Jan. 24 to give those in attendance a chance to participate in the annual March for Life in Washington on Friday, Jan. 21. The decision was issued on Jan. 22, 1973.
The Supreme Court is reviewing a case titled Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health that seeks to overturn Mississippi’s ban on nearly all abortions starting at 15 weeks of pregnancy. Upholding the ban would have the effect of overturning Roe v. Wade and would return the power to ban or restrict abortions to each state.
About 400 people attended the Statehouse event and heard talks by Vanderkooi, state Auditor Keith Faber, state Rep. Tracy Richardson (R-Marysville) and Teresa Potts of Pregnancy Decision Health Centers (PDHC). The rally was preceded by a Respect Life Mass at Columbus St. Joseph Cathedral celebrated by Father Stephan Moloney, diocesan apostolic administrator and vicar general.
“I’m very hopeful that next year, you won’t need a March for Life in Washington,” said Faber, a Republican from Celina who has been auditor since 2019 and was a state legislator for 16 years. “We’ve learned the hard way (through the results of the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections) that presidential elections matter, Supreme Courts matter and judges matter.”
Referring to people who say they don’t know when life begins, he said, “Where else do we err on the side of death? Only on the abortion issue. … (Supporters of abortion are) unable to answer that question because they don’t have an answer and are unwilling to err on the side of life. We (pro-life forces) do err in favor of protecting life. … Right to Life organizations will be more important than ever this year because the battle over abortion will be going back to the states.”
Richardson, who represents Union and Marion counties in the Ohio House, said she was not always a proponent of the pro-life cause, but “a major conversion” when she was 22 made her an activist. “Why do you know life begins at conception?” she asked. “It’s by God’s grace that you know this. When you pray for life, remember to pray for others to receive the grace to know what you know. Be people of hope. We are the people of life and of hope.”
Potts, who represented PDHC, said she has been with the organization for 10 years and currently is part of its abortion pill reversal program. She said it took many years to recover from the effects of two abortions she had – one in her senior year of high school and the other in her senior year of college.
Before her initial abortion, “I kept telling myself I couldn’t be killing a baby. At the abortion clinic, they said it was a blob of tissue, but in my heart I knew I was fooling myself,” she said. The second time, she didn’t know who would care for the child while she was attending school, “and Satan made me rush into the decision without thinking it through. The shame was unbearable. I felt I was running away from God,” Potts said.
After several difficult years, she joined a faith-based organization, but she didn’t come to the realization that God had forgiven her until taking part in a three-day retreat. “I realized there that God loved me,” she said. “I asked where He wanted me to serve Him, and He said, ‘I want you to volunteer at PDHC.’”
Potts said she has helped many post-abortive women regain faith and trust in God but only because she allowed God back into her life. She said she would tell anyone dealing with the effects of abortion, “Get help. If we aren’t healed ourselves, we can’t point post-abortive men and women to healing. God wants us to be healed and to accept his love and forgiveness.”
In closing remarks, Vanderkooi noted that more than 62 million children have lost their lives to abortion in the 49 years Roe v. Wade has been in effect. “A similar number – if not more – of mothers, fathers, grandparents and siblings carry the heavy emotional and spiritual burden of what was done, all of it a senseless tragedy.”
She said that although about 20,600 babies died by abortion last year in Ohio, including 3,500 in Franklin County, “we know that the things we do are making a difference,” noting that the latter number represented a 12 percent decrease from 2020. Vanderkooi said this was made possible because of the work done by the pro-life community, “most especially the persistent and loving witness of pro-life and pro-love missionaries on the sidewalks outside of central Ohio abortion clinics.”
“As we leave in a spirit of prayerful optimism, we profess the truth that abortion hurts women, and we present the truth that the unborn child deserves better than abortion,” she said.
The Respect Life Mass was celebrated on the feast day of St. Francis de Sales, principal patron of the Diocese of Columbus. In his homily, Msgr. Moloney said to the cathedral congregation, “When you preach the Gospel of Life, preach it with love, for (quoting St. Francis de Sales’ motto) ‘He who preaches with love preaches effectively.’
“Gentle persistence, simplicity and patient persuasion will be more effective than the harsh, shouted words and raucous noise of our opposition,” he said.
Last year’s Respect Life Mass was interrupted by a handful of protesters who shouted pro-abortion slogans and walked up the cathedral’s center aisle near the end of the homily before being escorted out of the building. The protesters also disrupted the Statehouse rally, which took place outdoors because of COVID restrictions, with chanting and portable loudspeakers. No protests took place at either of this year’s events.
The invocation for the rally was given by Father Seth Keller, parochial vicar at Columbus St. Cecilia Church, and the benediction was by Father Michael Mary Dosch, OP, novice master for the Dominican Order’s St. Joseph Province and former pastor of Columbus St. Patrick Church. The rally ended, as it has for several years, with the singing of the Marian hymn Salve Regina (Hail, Holy Queen) by Dominican novices from St. Gertrude Priory in Cincinnati.