THELEAVEN.ORG | VOL. 44, NO. 23 | JANUARY 27, 2023
LEAVEN PHOTO BY JAY SOLDNER
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann blesses the marchers from Benedictine College in Atchison. This is the first March for Life to be held after the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade.
MARCHING ON
Even after Roe, the March for Life continues to matter By Jack Figge Special to The Leaven
W
ASHINGTON — Tears trickled down Dina Rickert’s face as she stood facing the thousands of prolife advocates processing past the Capitol during the annual March for Life here. Two minutes earlier, she and her students had met the daughter of St. Gianna Molla, Gianna Emanuela Molla, a speaker at the rally for life. Surrounded by her students, Rickert shared why that encounter brought her to tears. “Once I got the job at St. James [Academy, Lenexa], Molla was the house community that was handed to me,” said Rickert. Molla was an Italian pediatrician who declined both a recommended hysterectomy and an abortion when she was pregnant with her fourth child,
putting the life of the child she carried before her own. She died shortly after the child’s birth and was canonized in 2004. “This appointment [to the Molla student community] was especially beautiful because when I had my fourth son, I had to risk my life to have him,” continued Rickert. “The doctors asked me to abort him, and I developed a great devotion to St. Gianna Molla during the pregnancy. It was very special to meet her daughter and just made me feel very close to Christ.” Earlier in the day, Gianna Emanuela Molla spoke to the crowd gathered at the National Mall for the Rally for Life about her mother’s legacy. Other national pro-life figures from House Majority leader Steve Scalise to Jonathan Roumie, who plays Jesus in the popular media series “The Chosen,” also
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LEAVEN PHOTO BY JAY SOLDNER
Archbishop Naumann marches down Constitution Ave. with tens of thousands of other pro-life advocates at the annual March for Life in Washington on Jan. 20.
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