DOVER — While it was not quite summer yet it sure felt like it June 5 outside Legislative Hall as pro-life advocates arrived in bunches on an 85-degree day to show their support of life remains as intense as ever.
Most legislators were likely soaking up the sun elsewhere as the few state senators to be found on the grounds were lawmakers marching in step with the people who took part in an afternoon pro-life rally at the state capital.
Why would nearly 100 people turn out on a hot, sunny day when legislators are not in session and the majority of the state’s elected officials have no interest in their cause when they do show up for work?
“Awareness,” said Lynn Mey, a parishioner at St. Jude’s in North East, Md., and one of the event organizers.
“We’re raising our voices, both to the community and the state and legislature,” she said. “We have a message of life.
“We want to convey that Delaware does not need to be the destination of death, which it is. It’s increasingly become more so and that’s why we’re trying to unify the state. We used to do marches in each county, but we’re unifying it to be here together.”
State Sens. Bryant Richardson and David Lawson have consistently sided with pro-life voters and spoke to marchers in front of hundreds of baby shoes lined up on the steps of Legislative Hall. The state capital may have been nearly deserted, but passersby were honking horns, showing support to the assembled group.
Organizers said the new and gently used shoes for infants to toddlers represented lives lost to abortion in Delaware. After the walk, shoes were donated to pregnancy care centers or others with a need for the shoes.
Nela Wintjen of Millsboro is a parishioner at Mary, Mother of Peace parish. She knows making an impact on pro-life issues is an uphill climb in a state run by indifferent Democrats who support abortion access at every turn and last month passed a law that makes physician-assisted suicide legal in the state.
“When we march, we know Delaware is known as an abortion state,” Wintjen said. “But when we march, if we could just change the hearts and minds of one or two single moms thinking of abortion, it’s all worth it.”
Wintjen, who arrived with people from Mary, Mother of Peace, St. Jude and St. Edmond parishes, has been fighting the fight since Roe v. Wade made abortion legal more than 50 years ago. She says having an impact with lawmakers is dependent upon the voters.
“We have to vote them out, and we’re outnumbered, but nothing is impossible,” she said. “We have to keep praying and stay at it. And we do have very, very good pro-life senators and representatives.”
David Cronin is a Clayton resident active in pro-life advocacy and a parishioner in St. Polycarp. He joins the regular group that shows up to preach the pro-life message at Planned Parenthood in Dover.
“There’s no respect for life,” he said. “First it was at the beginning, now it’s at the end of life that they’re cheapening.”
“It’s 60 years of secularism and no respect for life. No respect for the young and now the weak and vulnerable. It’s just a progression.”
“You get demoralized.”
“It’s tough because it’s ingrained in us now. We stand in front of Planned Parenthood and we get a lot of honks and thumbs up. We get a lot of middle fingers, too.”
