There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear . . . - 1 John 4:18
The anger of one million women leapt off the TV screen. Eight years ago, during President Trump’s first inauguration, news coverage featured protest after protest, from coast to coast, in big cities and small towns. Friends and relatives on social media, equally indignant, added to the hyperbolic, near-hysteric, calls for resistance and warnings about the end to “reproductive freedom” and quickly silenced the rest of us. The women’s appearances and tones varied slightly according to their respective geographic region but shared one defining characteristic: rage.
That January, I was living in Northampton and working at Smith College. Speaking on behalf of the unborn has never been a comfortable thing to do in Massachusetts. But as a pro-lifer on that campus in 2017, when the rapidly-spreading Women’s March appeared to be taking over the planet, day-to-day life was downright stifling, lonely, and fearful.
I sat in church that Sunday, January 22, reflecting on the dark anniversary of Roe v. Wade and the dystopian TV scenes from the day before, some in my own community; millions of babies killed and millions of infuriated women whose anger, I realized, stemmed from their own fears, however irrational.
I stared at a stained-glass window. One moment I felt helpless under the weight of things, and the next, struck, seemingly out of nowhere, with a totally foreign motivation to do what the women were doing: march!
“You’re going to D.C. for the March for Life . . . alone?!” My family was flummoxed. “What if you get attacked? What if you get lost or trampled? What if you get arrested?”
I saw somewhere on social media recently that this “what if” question is itself based in fear. Switch it up a bit and you have a declaration rooted in faith and indicative of love: Even if.
“Well, I think that even if . . .”
I recall being uncharacteristically defiant in ‘17, mostly toward my OK-with-the-status-quo-self. I was fed up with who I had allowed myself to become, a person who looked the other way, merely voted pro-life, and who sat silent instead of calling out injustice -- flagging evil -- with integrity.
“Even if I get yelled at or spit on . . . Even if I am called names . . . Even if people disassociate with me . . .”
It was the “even if” of pro-life love that, I now realize, propelled me to my first March for Life (and my subsequent vocation). Along Constitution Avenue, I did not feel at all alone while surrounded by scores of people to whom “even if” also made perfect sense, because it is, of course, the ceaselessly beating heart of our movement.
Even if it’s freezing, even if it’s crowded, even if most media outlets won’t pay attention – we keep marching!
Even if they keep finding new ways to end human life, even if the numbers aren’t going down as fast as they should be, even if abortionists keep denying reality – we keep fearlessly fighting for life!
Even if we must gently correct our friends, offer uncomfortable statistics to family or share stories of abortion survivors – we will find courage to speak!
Even if we have to boost our monthly donations to our favorite 52-year-old pro-life Massachusetts nonprofit – we will find those few extra dollars!
Even if it takes us another 5, 10 or 20 years to make abortion unthinkable, even if they try to censor us again, and again, and again, we will keep loving women in need and working to save the lives of their precious unborn children.
And even if Blue Beacon Hill casts shadows that makes saving those lives seem impossible, we will keep moving toward the victory that’s imminent when truth is on our side. Because as President Trump said in his second inaugural address on Monday, “In America, the impossible is what we do best.”
Thanks to our friends in the legislature, Massachusetts Citizens for Life initiated four bills as the new legislative session got underway. We are so grateful to sponsors and cosponsors including Representatives Dave DeCoste (R), Jeffrey Turco (D), Colleen Garry (D), Alyson Sullivan (R), Joseph McKenna (R), Paul Frost (R), John Gaskey (R) and Kelly Pease (R). We’ll let you know who else signs on and when you can send written testimonies or testify at committee hearings. Nearly 3,400 hundred MCFL constituents submitted testimonies during the last session – which, as you may recall, concluded without any anti-life bills becoming law! So, even if it seems useless to speak on behalf of those who cannot, know that every voice – your voice – makes a difference.
With sincere thanks for your ongoing support,
Myrna Maloney Flynn
President
Massachusetts Citizens for Life
P.S. If you haven’t already, please take a few minutes to complete our short survey by January 31. You should have received an email with the survey link a few days ago. If not, keep an eye out for a reminder in the coming days. Your feedback is invaluable in helping us fight more effectively for every innocent life. Thank you!