New Hanover Pro-Life Council Chapter Sponsor Vigil to Commemorate January 22.

Every year, the five-week span from Thanksgiving through Christmas and on to New Year's turns into a hiatus of sorts for pro-lifers. Among all the festivities and football on January 1, it's important to remember that it is then only three weeks before we solemnly commemorate the 1973 decision that legalized abortion on demand.

Teamwork is as natural to pro-lifers as taking up the cause of life. And it is teamwork that explains how only the contributions of about a dozen individuals have been able to plan a very successful observation of Roe each year since 1996 in New Hanover, North Carolina. And you can do the same!

In January 1996, the New Hanover Pro-Life Council hosted its first prayer vigil to memorialize the lives of the innocent unborn lost to abortion. It has done so faithfully every year since.

Fittingly, the vigil is held at Wilmington Riverfront Park located directly across from the Federal Courthouse in Wilmington, North Carolina. The park is a central and well-known location, visible to passersby and easy to find for first-time participants.

Its location adjacent to the federal courthouse reminds us that it was the United States Supreme Court that wrongly decided that women have a constitutional right to kill their unborn children. In light of pro-abortion Senate Democrats' resistance to President Bush's well-qualified judicial nominees because they refuse to pledge support for abortion, the courthouse is more than a reminder of past judicial decisions. It is also a symbol of the work that lies ahead.

Bev Jolly, the group's president, outlined for me a typical January 22 commemoration. She began by saying that its goal is "to create an awareness and activism about abortion, the local Planned Parenthood and abortion [facilities], and to encourage prayerful, peaceful vigils and their effectiveness, and finally to announce the positive accomplishments."

Accordingly, the group plans a full program that is a mixture of music, educational and inspirational talks, patriotism, and prayer. Gospel and traditional music is followed by the Pledge of Allegiance, then speeches by grassroots activists, college students, pastors, and doctors. The crowd is updated on the current status of pro-life legislation, educated about issues such as abortion's impact on minorities, and how a pro-life doctor ...