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Pro-life rally marks 40 Days of Life campaign

Ron Alvey/A rally of pro-life supporters took place at 1401 E. Stroop Rd in Kettering. The event marks the mid-point of the Dayton 40 Days for Life campaign. The pro-life campaign focuses on 40 days of prayer and fasting, 40 days of peaceful vigil at abortion facilities, and 40 days of grassroots educational outreach. Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk spoke at the event.

Photos: 40 Days for Life

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By Margo Rutledge Kissell, Staff Writer Updated 7:42 PM Sunday, March 27, 2011

KETTERING — Former Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk on Sunday told about 200 people gathered for a pro-life rally in Kettering that it’s important to maintain respect for all kinds of life, not just the unborn child.

“If there is no life, there is nothing. There is no hope, there is no joy, there is no outreach into the world,” said Pilarczyk, 76, who served as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati from 1982 through 2009.

He led a praying of the rosary before speaking at the event outside the Women’s Med Center, 1401 E. Stroop Road. The event marked a midpoint of the Dayton 40 Days for Life campaign, which features prayer, peaceful vigil at abortion facilities and educational outreach as part of a national program.

Pilarcyzk said afterward that he supports Ohio House Bill 125, known as the “heartbeat bill,” which would outlaw abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be medically detected, generally about six or seven weeks.

“Anything that limits the destruction of life, I’m for,” he said.

Mary Britt, a member of the local 40 Days for Life committee, said “all of the country is watching” Ohio.

The House Health and Aging Committee heard testimony from supporters and opponents but last week delayed a vote on the bill, which would give the state the most restrictive abortion law in the nation.

“This bill could entangle Ohio in an expensive legal fight, and is out of touch with our state’s values and priorities,” Kellie Copeland, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, said in a news release.

She told lawmakers the bill would eliminate a woman’s right to choose and is a direct challenge to Roe v. Wade. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the 1973 decision that a woman has the right to an abortion until the fetus is viable, usually 22 to 24 weeks.

Katelyn Evans of Columbus, a grassroots coordinator for House Bill 125, said at the Kettering rally the legislation would be a major step in their fight against abortion.

“If medical science doesn’t let us go to conception just yet, let’s go to the heartbeat,” she said. “I use the heartbeat in the field as a paramedic as an indicator of life. That’s what it is, it’s an indication of life.”

The Columbus Dispatch contributed to this report.

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