NORTHAMPTON — Members of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish took to the streets on Saturday to denounce abortion as part of the Parade for Life.
Prior to the Pioneer Valley Women’s March, the anti-abortion demonstration drew around 50 from the parish to Pulaski Park, where their pastor, Francis Reilly, delivered a speech before saying a prayer.
“An unborn life is so precious, and we just want to choose life,” Reilly said. Although he was “on the fence” as a college student about abortion, he said, “I had an uncle tell me it was murder.”
“We pray all life be respected,” he added.
Comparing the anti-abortion movement to the Black Lives Matter movement, Reilly said, “We know all life matters because we are all created in the image and likeness of God.”
For St. Elizabeth parishioner and Chesterfield resident George D’Astous, the goal of the parade was to “bring awareness” to others about their church’s beliefs on abortion.
“To say we can just extinguish children from the womb of the mother and say that’s OK — it’s not,” he said. “It’s against the Constitution of the United States because everyone has God-given rights that no man can take away.”
In 1973, the Supreme Court affirmed abortion as a constitutional right with the Roe v. Wade ruling, which allowed women in the U.S. access to legal and safe abortion.
Since the Supreme Court’s decision, there have been numerous attempts across the country to restrict abortion access at the state level. In the first quarter of 2018, there were 308 new abortion restrictions introduced in 37 states, according to the Guttmacher Institute, a research group in support of abortion rights.
Helen Fitzgerald, another parishioner at the parade, said “when women have abortions, there is a terrible sorrow following them.”
She added, “I believe that pro-life is pro-women.”
Luis Fieldman can be reached at lfieldman@gazettenet.com