On a day of freezing rain, between 300,000 and 400,000 pro-life activists braved the elements and marched in unity down Constitution Avenue to the steps of the Supreme Court building in Washington, DC. Although the event drew meager coverage in the media, the January 23 protest marked the thirty-ninth year of the holocaust on pre-born children. The March For Life event has become an annual public display of solidarity against the legalized killing of children.
A few days earlier, my daughter Ashley and I boarded a bus bound for Washington to attend the Students for Life of America (SFLA) Pro-Life Conference and to join the March For Life. On Saturday we met up with my brother Don Blythe, a missionary with At the Well Ministries (a pro-life ministry that has rescued more than 3500 babies), and had a memorable tour of the Lincoln Memorial and other famous sights.
On Sunday we attended the annual conference of Students for Life of America, the organization for which my daughter Kortney worked before she and her pre-born daughter, Sophy Joy, were called home to heaven. More than 2,000 high school and college students attended the event. Here are just a few highlights:
• Great speakers and educators provided pro-life apologetic education at all-day training seminars.
• We attended a reception with Gov. Mike Huckabee who spoke privately with us about Kortney and how grieved he was when she went to be with the Lord. Governor Huckabee was moved by her life and death, especially after having hosted a pro-life documentary that included Kortney getting an ultrasound.
• The documentary The Gift of Life (www.thegiftoflifemovie.com) was shown. The movie is dedicated to Kortney and Sophy Joy.
• I had the privilege of presenting the Kortney Blythe Gordon Pro-Life Hero award to Catherine Wilson, a major pro-life activist.
• My brother Don received the Sophy Joy Gordon Pro-Life Hero Award for his amazing ministry to the pre-born.
On Monday, we participated the March For Life, joining the massive crowds of teens and young adults who displayed a driving passion for ending abortion in our lifetime. Rachael and Savannah Anne Carman were also there to fight against this evil. We were excited when we successfully found one another amongst the enormous sea of creatures.
As we enter the fortieth year following one of the worst court decisions in American history, Roe v. Wade, please continue to pray for an to the legalized extermination of these tiny humans. For more information, please visit studentsforlife.org.
May we all have the relentless drive of my late daughter Kortney Blythe Gordon, who said “Jesus Christ is my Lord. Abolishing abortion is my calling.”
Larry Blythe is the Director of Apologia Academy. Besides nearly twenty years in pastoral ministry, Larry has extensive service in educational ministries including apologetics, theology, Old and New Testament, church history, and cults. He is an editor of the Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics. Larry and his wife Jane live in Charlotte, N.C.
Thank you so much for sharing your story. It is people such as your daughter who help to give hope to our future. Yes, it was discouraging to know that of the mainstream networks, FOX was the only one to cover the March even a little bit. Fortunately, we have the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN) who covered the events completely.
My daughter was one of 27 youth from my parish to attend this year's March. There were over a couple hundred that went from the few surrounding parishes/cities in our area. When they returned, they shared how they were affected by the events of the weekend, with the rest of our parish so as to help those that were uninformed learn about the March. It appears that God is working through the young people, just like your daughter!! God bless them!