Hope at Abortion’s Epicenter

Commentary

Thousands of pro-lifers will converge on our nation’s capital this weekend, raising a mighty cry on behalf of the unborn children we continue to kill at a breath-taking rate: some 98,000 each month.

That cry will be echoed from California, as pro-lifers fill the streets of San Francisco, coming from all over the western states and beyond.

The gatherings—the March for Life on Jan. 23, the West Coast Walk for Life on Jan. 24, and similar smaller events around the country—will mark their fourth year since the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade. 

Pro-lifers marching in DC this year have some reason for optimism. After the Dobbs decision, almost half of U.S. states passed laws restricting abortion, with 13 states banning abortion entirely. And the current administration has pardoned pro-life activists, restricted enforcement of the FACE Act, ended some funding for abortion, and voiced support for pro-life legislation. 

But on the other side of the country, the outlook is more grim. Post-Dobbs, California doubled down on abortion. It declared itself a “sanctuary state” for abortion in June 2022, and a few months later became one of the first states to enshrine abortion in its constitution. Since then the California legislature has passed a host of laws to protect, expand, and fund abortion access.

California leads the nation in abortions performed, with almost 184,000 unborn babies killed in 2024, according to Guttmacher. Even given the vast population of the coastal state, that number is outsized. Sixteen percent of the 1.14 million abortions performed in the United States in 2024 happened in California.

In response to the Golden State’s fervor for abortion, pro-lifers flock to the West Coast Walk for Life each year in ever increasing numbers. They’ve been coming for 22 years now, their numbers swelling from 7,000 in 2005 to 70,000 last year, according to local media estimates. 

They come in buses and stretch vans and cars, many of them sleeping in church basements and gyms. Entire schools make the trip, high schools and colleges, and scores of families. Some of them will come straight from Washington DC after attending Friday’s march there. The streets of San Francisco—consistently ranked as America’s most childless city—will be full of young faces.

The abiding atmosphere is one of prayer. The night before the march, several churches remain open for all night prayer; on Saturday morning, in the archdiocese’s cavernous cathedral, some 3,000 Catholics gather to begin the day with Mass, led by San Francisco’s Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone. 

There is usually a gaggle of counter protesters, their angry insults and shouts in sharp contrast to the peaceful faces of the college students leading the march. Then, as the pro-life crowd gets underway, those shouts are swallowed in the great roar echoing from the city’s skyscrapers as if from the walls of a canyon. 

Surging down Market Street from Civic Center Plaza to Embarcadero Square, they sing, they pray, they chant in English and Spanish. They engage passersby in conversation about abortion. Pro-life notables rub elbows with parents pushing strollers. Dominicans and Carmelites in full habit. Catholics, Protestants, Jews, Orthodox, atheists. Life Runners, 40 Days for Life, Feminists for Life, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, parishes, schools, the list goes on.

This year, many of them will march to honor the legacy of a pro-life hero who said, “I want to be remembered for courage for my faith.” A huge part of that witness was Charlie Kirk’s unwavering commitment to the unborn. “His advocacy extended far beyond words,” Students for Life said in a tribute to Kirk. “He brought the fight for Life into the public sphere, using his platform and voice to reach millions. He stood tall in the belief that authentic freedom and justice for all begin with protecting the right to Life for every human being.”

For pro-lifers across the country, the response to Kirk’s death on Sept. 10 was immediate and instinctual: they took their prayers and witness to sidewalks and streets outside abortion facilities across the country. That galvanizing effect continued into the fall, with nationwide pro-life organization 40 Days for Life reporting record numbers at its fall prayer vigils, and it’s expected to swell the numbers this weekend. 

The walk takes place in San Francisco, not Sacramento. While the Golden Gate City isn’t California’s administrative seat, for many, its wealth, liberal culture, and proximity to Silicon Valley make it an apt icon for the state’s spiritual decline. The huge gathering is an acknowledgement that the abortion battle is fundamentally spiritual, not political.

And, in a state with a complex network of laws protecting abortion access, “we’ve got to operate at the grassroots level,” said Jennifer Nolan, executive director of Right to Life League of Southern California. 

“Yes, we fight legislation. We have to,” Nolan told me this week. “But the more visibility that we have, I think the more it will draw others in … If we all just sit in our homes and say, ‘No abortion,’ it’s not unifying.”

There is hope, Nolan said. “Pro-life entities outnumber abortion clinics. We are already seeing over 100 abortion clinic closures nationwide since Dobbs, and five closures in California in 2025. Prayer works!”

Yes, there’s hope for the soul of this beautiful state, reflected in the thousands of young faces filling the streets of a once-gracious city. 

Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.