By Martina Hart

CHARLESTON—Pro-life supporters gathered at the West Virginia State Capitol for the Pro-Life Rally and Day at the Legislature Feb. 18. The event is sponsored annually by West Virginians for Life, Inc. (WVFL), the state affiliate to the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC).

“Our main focus this year for pro-life legislation is that we’re trying to pass an ultrasound requirement option,” said Karen Cross, president of the WVFL, who also serves as political director for the NRLC. House Bill No. 4517 (the same as Senate Bill No. 597)—an amendment to the Women’s Right To Know Act—would require physicians and others assisting in performing an abortion to offer the patient the opportunity to view an active ultrasound image of the fetus before the procedure, to explain the image and to answer any questions.

“We believe that many lives will be saved because of this,” Cross said. “In fact, we know that a lot of girls would change their minds based on that because what’s abstract to them before, when they can see this living human baby with fingers and toes and arms and legs, kicking and sucking his thumb ... that she is more likely to choose life. And if that’s a piece of information that would cause her to change her mind, she should have it before the abortion rather than finding out later.”

Gov. Joe Manchin also addressed participants, saying that he appreciated the presence of those who attended.

“Every life is so precious to all of us,” the governor said, “everybody has a chance to be something. Everybody contributes, everybody can give something back. But if you don’t have a chance, it’s all for naught.”

Manchin acknowledged that the ultrasound bill was moving in the right direction and was hopeful that it would pass.

The West Virginia Teens for Life rally encouraged young people to be involved in the pro-life movement and to educate their family and friends. The rally was hosted by Christina Deal, president of the organization, and featured the Jason Lovins Band. Prior to sharing their musical talents, Lovins shared his mother’s story—she was raped when she was 15 and became pregnant. With his grandmother, both trusting in God, his mother made the choice to have the baby.

Jesuit Father Brian O’Donnell, executive secretary of the Catholic Conference of West Virginia, offered the invocation at the noon rally. National Right to Life President Dr. Wanda Franz then presented a national update, citing recent poll results, indicating that 51 percent of Americans consider themselves to be pro-life.

“I expect that a large percentage of the rest of them actually are pro-life and don’t know it because they haven’t been educated,” Franz said. “We are a pro-life country. We love our country and what it stands for. We know what it stands for by reading our founding documents. ... We must speak as one voice, we must work hard. And may God bless us and our work for his innocent children.”

Cross added that the 2010 election cycle is providing good news with pro-life candidates taking the lead in election races in several states.

“If we stay the course, if we continue to work and organize and prepare our state organizations and local groups to be ready, this fall will truly bring monumental change to Washington, D.C., and our nation,” Cross concluded.

The prayer walk throughout the Capitol following the rally was led by Father Eric Hall, pastor of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Parkersburg and St. Monica Parish in Lubeck. The opportunity for silent prayer and reflection was a reminder of the 3,300 unborn babies who would die that day, the 52 million who have died since 1973 and the many women and girls who are suffering the aftermath of their abortions.

“Every year I look forward to participating in this pro-life rally,” said Ed Rowan Sr., a lifelong parishioner of the Basilica of the Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart in Charleston. “It renews my faith in average West Virginia people who gather in thought, prayer and song to help express our commitment to life from conception to natural death.”

Michael Roderick, a parishioner of St. Francis of Assisi Parish in St. Albans, observed that young people are more pro-life than ever. Sunny Murray and Amy Brown, parishioners at St. Francis Xavier Parish in Parkersburg, were attending the rally for the first time.

“I’m really impressed with it, and we want to get Wood County more involved in the pro-life movement,” Murray said. “I think the more knowledge we have, the more effective we can be in spreading the word.”

Brown is the mother of two adopted daughters ages 9 and 11. “Because women chose life over abortion ... I have two of the most precious gifts I can ever ask for,” she said and shared a family tradition: “On their birth mothers’ birthday we go to church and at the foot of Mary we light a candle and we say a prayer for their birth mothers for the wonderful gift they’ve given me and the wonderful gift they gave them, which is life.”