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12 Central Iowans departing for annual ‘March for Life’

Event protecting rights of the unborn

CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Thousands are expected to attend the Jan. 24 March for Life event in Washington, D.C., according to Marshalltown participants.

Two Marshalltown women on Wednesday who are passionate about the pro-life issue are departing at noon Wed. on buses from New Hope Church to join with other Iowans traveling to Washington, D.C.

They will join thousands of American pro-life supporters Friday for the annual March to U.S. Supreme Court.

Mary Lyon of New Hope Christian Church and Mary Mauk of St. Francis of Assisi Parish will be joined by their husbands and eight other Central Iowans.

It will be Mary and her husband Mark’s second time participating, while Lyon and her husband, among others, will be first-timers.

Lyon said the time to act is now.

“I do have a fairly strong belief that all life is created by God,” Lyon said. “It starts at time of conception and in even in God’s mind we were thought of long before we came into existence.”

Lyon said she has been active in local and state pro-life initiatives.

“We will be riding all night long on the bus and arrive in Washington D.C. Thursday afternoon for pre-march events. The march is Friday.”

Mauk said she gained inspiration last year to rally more Marshalltonians to participate.

She was successful.

Like Lyon, she believes strongly life begins at conception.

“The right to life is a human right,” Mary Mauk said. “Our defense of that right is a joyful witness to the beauty and dignity of every human person. We celebrate each and every life, from the moment of conception. We envision a world where every life is celebrated, valued and protected. We celebrate life from the moment of conception to the moment of natural death, and every moment in between.”

The March for Life is an inspiring, peaceful, vibrant and joy-filled rally of women, men, young people, and children from all across the country according to its website.

Tens of thousands of pro-lifers converge on the National Mall and march on Capitol Hill on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling which legalized abortion nationwide. It’s the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world.

In March the national March For Life will organize marches on numerous state capitols.

Planned Parenthood, a target of the pro-life movement, plans to spend at least $45 million backing candidates in local, state and national races who support abortion rights according to National Public Radio.

With abortion-rights activists playing defense from statehouses to the Supreme Court, Planned Parenthood is unveiling a new campaign push focused on the 2020 elections.

Kelley Robinson, executive director of the superPAC Planned Parenthood Votes, said advocates are pushing back against a “coordinated level of attack” from abortion-rights opponents.

“It’s clear that all these attacks have one goal: to undermine and to gut Roe v. Wade,” Robinson said in an interview with NPR.

Planned Parenthood has long been a focus of efforts by abortion-rights opponents to cut public funding to abortion providers and restrict the procedure nationwide. The group has been fighting a series of particularly difficult battles since the election of President Donald Trump in 2016.

In recent weeks, the organization announced it was withdrawing from the federal Title X family planning program because of rule changes enacted by the Trump administration.

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Contact Mike Donahey at 641-753-6611 or mdonahey@timesrepublican.com.

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