One thing anyone who witnessed the annual March for Life on Friday almost surely had to conclude was that this was primarily an event for abortion opponents who were young.
Jim Stangel of Baltimore told Newsmax his wife "Judy and I have been coming to the March for Life for 12 years. And it's especially invigorating to see all of these young people marching and carrying pro-life signs."
"My Birth Mother Chose Life" was the legend on one sign. Another blared, "Social Justice Begins in the Womb." A very young boy carried a drawing of a chipmunk proclaiming, "Save the Baby Humans."
Harry Scherer, a sophomore at Mount St. Mary's University in Emmitsburg, Maryland, told us he has been coming to the March for Life "almost my whole life. The marches have been mostly young people, but that is especially true this year."
He credited the apparent increase to President Donald Trump and said that among his friends, "there was a lot of energy from the president's speech."
Young first-time marchers who spoke to us gave varied reasons for their joining the 47-year-old event.
Alex Ioannidis, a college sophomore from Chattanooga, Tennessee, and an evangelical Christian, credited his involvement with Students for Life for motivating him to come to the march.
"The abortion issue just agitated my conscience," he told us. "I just had to come and make a stand."
Homeschooler Megen Erickson of Jacksonville, Florida, was direct in explaining why she came to her first March for Life.
"I'm here to defend the life of the unborn," she said. "Abortion is murdering babies, and we should not be doing it."
Whatever the future of the pro-life cause, it seems a safe bet to say the young people now energized behind it are key to making the March for Life a yearly institution for many years to come.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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