How far would you travel to attend a pro-life rally? A couple miles? How about more than 2,000 miles — on foot?
That was commitment shown by a group of Millennials who gathered with other pro-life supporters outside of ABC‘s Washington, D.C., offices on Thursday afternoon. They were there to participate in Live Action’s “March on the Media Rally,” a protest against the mainstream media’s apparent cover-up of the truth regarding abortion.
The group of young people in neon yellow t-shirts were part of Crossroads Pro-Life, a youth-oriented nonprofit organization striving to foster the pro-life movement. Kathlene Gorman, 20, was one of the participants in the walk across America. She left San Francisco on May 18 and arrived in the nation’s capital on Aug. 6, just two days before the rally.
“We were planning on getting here in time for [the March on Media Rally] because it’s such a great idea and great cause,” Gorman told Red Alert Politics.
On the cross-country pilgrimage, Gorman and the other young adults had to endure physical, emotional and spiritual hardships, but for the Auburn student, the issue of abortion was important enough to convince her to suffer through mountain heights and blistered feet.
“The abortion issue is at the heart of most of the struggles our country has,” she said. “It’s at the root of many divisions in the nation, whether it’s conscious or not. It absolutely breaks my heart. Fixing this is absolutely integral for the future of our country.”
Gorman stood among her Crossroads peers as they lifted up signs — reading “Stop Censoring the News” and “Tell Us the Truth About Danger to Women” — outside the ABC office. The protest came a week after Live Action sent letters to the three biggest news stations in the nation — ABC, NBC and CBS — asking them to reconsider how they report on abortion.
“Today is all about getting the media to report the facts and stop the bias,” Live Action’s president Lila Rose told Red Alert. “In the meantime, we’re also using this as an opportunity to continue to tell the facts and share the truth about what they’re not reporting.”
Rose said there has been an increase in youth joining the pro-life movement as they gradually realize abortion is a human rights issue. And while she called her generation passionate on the issue, Rose said that the three major networks needed to do a complete 180-degree turn.
“More and more people are getting their news from other sources and not trusting the mainstream media because the reality is they can’t be trusted when they’re being so biased in favor of the abortion industry and abortion advocates,” she said.
Gorman, holding a “Stop Censoring the News” sign, said that she knew friends in high school who had gotten abortions, saw the mainstream media and pro-choice supporters as missing an integral part of the abortion story — that abortion isn’t just about a woman having a choice, but taking the choice away from another.
“The fact that it’s so destructive not only to the dignity of the life taken, but also the dignity of the woman who made that choice — I had to let people know about the truth,” Gorman said.
For Yale Gerber, a Southeast Missouri State student who also walked to D.C. from San Francisco, the abortion issue hits fairly close to home. He was adopted at just six weeks old.
“I know that my mother definitely had the option to abort me instead of giving me up to my adopted parents,” Gerber, now 20, told Red Alert. “Just knowing that I was kind of that close.”
The rally lasted a little more than an hour. Aside from Rose, short speeches were also given by Christian Robey, political director at Media Research Center, Jill Stanek, a nurse and pro-life advocate, Charmaine Yoest, President of Americans United for Life, and Ryan Bomberger, co-founder and chief creative officer of The Radiance Foundation.
A concurrent Twitter rally was held online, with pro-life tweeters encouraged to use the hashtag #MarchonMedia.
Live Action did not receive any acknowledgment from ABC during the rally, aside from an ABC cameraman filming the rally.
