BOSTON (LifeSiteNews) — Hundreds of pro-life men from across the country gathered last weekend for the fourth annual National Men’s March to Abolish Abortion and Rally for Personhood.
On November 1, the Solemnity of All Saints, around 200 men marched six miles from a Planned Parenthood to Boston Common to bear witness to the unborn, dealing with some leftist protesters along the way.
March organizer Jim Havens emphasized to LifeSiteNews that he hopes the march will help inspire pro-life men to get off the sidelines and into the battle for the unborn, and lead the Supreme Court to hear a case on unborn children’s constitutional personhood.
One of the marchers, who drove several hours from Philadelphia to participate, highlighted the significant impact the couple hundred men had on the pro-life movement and the need for more Catholics to get involved in similar events.
Pro-life men need to ‘get off the sidelines’
Jim Havens, the co-founder and president of the annual march, told LifeSite that one of the main goals of the march is to get pro-life men “off the sidelines” and stand up for the unborn. He noted that over the past four years, thousands of men have made the trip and marched.
“Every time (men come out to march) we look at that as a great victory for each person that is able to stand up, maybe for the first time publicly, against this ongoing daily mass murder of our littlest preborn brothers and sisters, so there’s great fruits there,” he said.
“There’s a lot of healing for the men that come out and participate, for those who maybe have (had) some participation in abortion in the past, or even just the sin of omission of not doing anything about this in the past and (are) now finally getting up and getting out to make a public stand,” he added.
Havens noted that several protesters, some dressed as clowns and others from Antifa, showed up to disrupt the march, and likely led some men to stay home for fear of their safety. Fortunately, law enforcement did an excellent job ensuring everyone’s safety.
“(Law enforcement was) so well prepared that there was an element of an Antifa group … maybe 50 people,” he said. “Local law enforcement made sure that there was a very large buffer zone between them and us, (so) they were never able to get near us.”
Getting ‘constitutional personhood’ recognized by U.S. Supreme Court
Havens stressed that, more than the uphill battle of passing meaningful pro-life legislation in the leftist state of Massachusetts, the march’s other main goal is to help demand the recognition of constitutional personhood for the unborn and get the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Pro-life activists have long argued that unborn children, whose lives begin at conception, have been denied the equal protection guaranteed under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause through legalized abortion.
READ: No, Justice Barrett, the Constitution does not leave abortion to the states
It is notable that in 1868, when the 14th Amendment was ratified by the states, it was widely recognized that unborn babies are legal persons, and that understanding was implicit in the amendment. Abortion was illegal at that time in virtually every state.
In fact, 23 states and six territories referred to the unborn baby as a “child” in their statutes against abortion. At least 28 jurisdictions also labeled abortion as an “offense against the person” or an equivalent criminal classification.
“We believe that the right strategy to (bring abortion to an) end is to call for and demand constitutional personhood for the preborn immediately. There are various methods to be able to get this before the Supreme Court, but it first takes people standing up and calling it out and calling people on to understand what constitutional personhood is,” Havens said. “Then to really call on others to stand up and do the same until we can push it to people that have enough influence.”
READ: Thousands participate in Michigan March for Life
Havens underscored that if enough pro-lifers make their voices heard, President Donald Trump or one of the state’s governors could sign an executive order recognizing unborn children’s constitutional personhood, which would be a “triggering event” that would force the Supreme Court to hear the case. He also believes that, based on the makeup of the high court, they would likely rule in favor of the unborn child having constitutional personhood.
“It needs to be explicitly affirmed that killing, the intentional direct killing of any innocent human being from conception and fertilization, is actually unconstitutional,” he added. “We need the pro-life movement to be shouting this from the rooftops and demanding our elected officials act on this until we can get the Supreme Court to rule on it.”
Catholics need to step up for the unborn
Jack Marren, who traveled all the way from Philadelphia for the march, hoped the robust turnout would inspire other pro-life activists, particularly Catholics, to step up and engage in public acts of reparation for the unborn.
“Not enough Catholics … particularly traditional Catholics, they’re not willing to step up to the plate and engage in public reparation, and that to me is a crime because I think abortion is essentially … a Catholic issue,” he said.
Marren further stressed that the march undoubtedly pleased God and Our Lady and had an impact on all those involved.
“I think we really need to get out in the public … and make an impression, and I think that’s why even though (there were only) 200-250 of us, number one it pleased God, and Our Lady, and then … there’s the impact it’s going to have on the hecklers,” he added. “We had people at (their) windows giving us a thumbs up, cars honking and giving us a thumbs up. So I think affirming the pro-life initiative to these people is a good thing as well.”
