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Published: January 8, 2010
“Intrigued by the similarities between our two events”
Walk for Life West Coast co-founder will be keynote speaker at Paris March For Life
By Gibbons J. Cooney
Special to California Catholic Daily
In a dramatic display of the international solidarity of the pro-life movement, Dolores Meehan, co-founder of San Francisco’s Walk for Life West Coast, will be a keynote speaker at the Sixth Annual Marche Pour Le Respect de la Vie -- the “Paris March for Life.” The Marche Pour Le Respect de la Vie will take place on January 17, starting at the Place de République in Paris.
 Since its beginning in 2005, the Paris March has become a rallying point for pro-lifers from all over Europe. In addition to groups from France, it attracts delegations from Italy, Spain, Belgium, the UK, Poland, Switzerland, Germany, Ireland and now the United States. Last year’s Marche drew 15,000 -- 20,000 participants.
In 2005, French pro-life organizations united to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the 1975 French law legalizing abortion under the slogan, “30 years is enough!” The first Marche was so successful that it has become an annual event. Non-denominational and non-partisan, the Marche brings together Catholic, Protestant, Evangelical and secular organizations who share a common platform: the defense of every human life. This year, two new organizations have joined: the fast-growing Etudiants pro-vie (Pro-Life Students), a movement inspired by the American “Students for Life,” which has opened chapters in many French universities; and Soignants Porteurs d’Esperance, a group of pro-life members of the medical professions.
Ms. Meehan told California Catholic Daily: “I’m delighted to be offered the opportunity to speak at the Marche. I’m also intrigued by the similarities between our two events. Both the Marche and the Walk for Life West Coast began in 2005, both take place in cities with a strong history of radical and countercultural action, both draw impressive numbers of young people, and both recognize that without compassion and justice their can be no common good or true Culture of Life.”
 The mission statement of the Marche Pour Le Respect de la Vie says: “French pro-lifers will call upon their countrymen to reflect upon the disastrous result of 35 years of legal abortion: the unspeakable sufferings of millions of women, and the blatant injustice towards millions of our unborn brothers and sisters. Despite having one of the very highest contraception rates in the world, France today has the second highest abortion rate in Western Europe, second only to Sweden – a situation even the sponsor of France’s 1975 abortion legalization law, Simone Veil, has deemed ‘distressing.’…The way forward is one of compassion and justice: compassion by providing expectant mothers with the real choice, that of preserving their unborn life; and justice with the comprehensive abolition of abortion.”
Ms. Meehan will return to San Francisco in time for the 2010 Walk for Life West Coast, to be held on Saturday, January 23. Eight Catholic Bishops will attend the San Francisco Walk. Speakers will include Lila Rose of Live Action and former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson.
For more about the Marche Pour Le Respect de la Vie (select “In English), Click Here.
For more information about Walk for Life West Coast, Click Here.
Posted Friday, January 08, 2010 4:19 AM By Abeca Christian
I honestly believe and hold to be true, that the womb is no longer a safe place for any child. I can understand if a pregnancy is lost through natural causes, like a miscarriage, fibrosis's , ectopic (ectopic is actually a very sad situation because not only does a baby die this way too but the mom's life is in danger as well), etc etc but just think that daily women are making the decision (out of their own free will) to murder their own children while in the womb, where an unborn child has no other place to escape, nor is it capable of, for protection and safety. If one reflects on it, one must surely draw to conclusion that it is such a gruesome act; abortion, the act of murder, the act of ending a life developing and so evil for a human being to be part of imposing such act on a helpless human life! What does people not understand about that, forget if ignorance or in bad will people don't agree it to be a life yet in the early stages but it is still something that is to become a human being! How could anyone take out the dignity of that very important factor that the beginning of life play it's role in? I think that when people are capable of such act, it shows poor character, and I don't mean to sound like I am judging so harshly, it's just so hard to grasp on and accept any excuse made just so they can justify to murder a child. How society has belittled the dignity of human life, is beyond me, hard to grasp on.
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Posted Friday, January 08, 2010 10:43 AM By Life Lady
When people turn away from God, they reject everything that God is and has done or will do. They reject His Divinity and His Kingship, everything. When He created man, from the beginning He knew all about us, and nothing was hidden about us. He knew that we would be flawed, and reject Him, but He created us anyway, because He knows that to love and not be loved in return, is priceless. When a child is concieved, from the beginning that child is human. It is its' own individual, unique self. People need to grasp that one thought: a child is concieved and is a unique human individual, capable of so many things, and, given the opportunity, can become a positive contributor to the overall good of society. The best way to convey that is to stand in public and declare it, in marches, in private conversations, in public forums, in any way possible that will reach hearts. We must concentrate on that, and go forward. Don't look back, or the destrucion behind you will make you lose heart and the determination needed to continue the fight. Look forward, and keep on going!
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Posted Friday, January 08, 2010 2:45 PM By 1abqdad
Where are the rest of the bishops, who are supposed to be "leading" their flocks???
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Posted Friday, January 08, 2010 3:16 PM By Doula Angelita
Human life is sacred and should be treated as such from conception to natural death. Look what happens when this simple precept is ignored: abortion, wars, rape, murder, etc. Once I became a parent, it occurred to me that a gun, knife, lancet, etc can destroy in minutes what it took 9 holy months to create. Even science is forced to concur that life begins at conception; let us pray and march peacefully so that all citizens of earth may know this as well.
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Posted Friday, January 08, 2010 11:08 PM By WOODY GUIDRY
JESUS AND HIS MOTHER are aware of every concept held in the heads and hearts of all of us. If we ask for their intercession for tiny humans, is there any doubt as to who will receive it? We can march from our deathbeds and anywhere else at any time. We, too, march in spirit-but are unable to do so otherwise-many times in desperate physical straits ourselves. Able marchers provide the public conscience jog to voters-even to members of government.
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Posted Saturday, January 09, 2010 3:43 PM By John Zakharia
Our society is the perfect example of the frog in water analogy. We will be overwhelmed with evil if you do not stop this evil of mass murder of the innocent. All past civilizations that killed the week were dissolved.
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Posted Monday, January 18, 2010 3:21 AM By axel de Boer
In name of many french pro-life we thank-you for your solidarity and for the participation of the Californian delegation. We are fighting the most important fight in the world, the right to life for the most little, the unborn child. It is a global fight, the same for all countries, faiths, politicals opinions. We must build a global network of millions arround the world in order to support us each other. European pro-life mouvement are growing very fast and are more and more linked together. Governements want people to believe that abortion is now an accepted social fact. But it is not, and many young people began to understand it.
For Life, together we stand !
Axel de Boer, president of the french christian & pro-life political party SOLIDARITE - Liberté, Justice et Paix, former pro-life candidate in Paris to the European elections of june 2009.
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