Days until we Walk for Life on January 25, 2025

See photos of the 2016 Walk here!

On Saturday, January 23, tens of thousands of San Franciscans, joined by young pro-lifers from as far away as Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma and Alaska filled the city’s Civic Center Plaza and Market Street at the 12th Annual Walk for Life West Coast. Organizers would not give a firm number of attendees, saying only “tens of thousands” but crowd size was consistent with recent years, where local mainstream media estimated 50-55,000 people. Attendance was especially impressive given travel difficulties caused by the intense weather of recent weeks’ El Nino weather system—a system that broke the day of the Walk, with only an occasional drizzle interrupting the sunshine.

Walk co-chair Eva Muntean introduced the rally by urging attendees to greater pro-life activism, giving a shout-out to 40 Days for Life who were at the Walk’s Info Faire, and to California’s Parental Notification Initiative, whose representatives manned two signature-gathering tables.

This year’s speakers included two international stars of the pro-life movement: Obianuju Ekeocha of Culture of Life Africa, and Mexican musical superstar and pro-life activist Emmanuel, as well as the influential young American pro-life activist, David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress.

Obianuju Ekeocha, Culture of Life Africa
Obianuju Ekeocha, Culture of Life Africa

Both Ekeocha and Daleiden challenged the mind-set of Planned Parenthood and the anti-family NGO’s of the world who see human beings as commodities. Ms. Ekeocha attacked the cultural imperialism western NGO’s are attempting to impose on Africa: “They tell us the lie that women– in order to have opportunities and in order for us be successful– we must have abortion rights. I stand here before you not just as a black person or an African person. I stand here before you as a woman to say we should never have to buy success with the blood of our babies.”

 

 

 

 

David Daleiden echoed Ms. Ekeocha’s observations that abortion has turned our own children into commodities; he noted that what his videos prove is that while pro-abortionists deny the humanity of the fetus at the time of abortion, they immediately turn around and assert the humanity of the fetus when it is time to sell their body parts:

David Daleiden. Credit: Darwin Sayo, Walk for Life West Coast Media Team
David Daleiden. Credit: Darwin Sayo, Walk for Life West Coast Media Team

“The videos raise the biggest question that Planned Parenthood and their allies cannot answer. That is how on the one hand in our country the humanity of the baby fetus is not considered to be equal enough to our own in order to be totally protected by law, but at the same time it is precisely their equal and identical humanity to our own that makes them so valuable for sale.”

In his homily at the Walk for Life Mass, celebrated at 9:30 AM at St. Mary’s Cathedral, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone also addressed Daleiden’s videos, which document Planned Parenthood’s callous attitude towards selling the body ports of aborted children. He noted the bizarre contortions required by the organization’s defenders: “…there are those who would defend the practice by deflecting the argument to questions of legal technicalities regarding what is and is not against the law, thus side-stepping the real question, the much bigger question. But the big question cannot be ignored, it has to be answered, there is no getting around it: what does this say about us as a society?”

 

 

 

 

Emmanuel. Photo: Darwin Sayo.
Emmanuel. Photo: Darwin Sayo.

The final two speakers were fiery Walk stalwart the Reverend Clenard Childress, Director of BlackGenocide.org and Latino music sensation Emmanuel. Emmanuel began by saying, in English “We are here in defense of life. We have to do it. We all have to do it,” and then spoke in Spanish to the Walk’s large and ever-growing Hispanic contingent. Emmanuel’s fame in the Spanish-speaking world can scarcely be overstated. The cheers accompanying his appearance were thunderous. Ed Hopfner, of the Archdiocese of San Francisco, said that following the rally the crowd swarmed Emmanuel, and that he and other security had difficulty in getting him back to his car.

As the Walk headed down Market Street, the lead, as always, was taken by youth. The front ranks were filled with members of Catholic High Schools from San Francisco and surrounding dioceses. College students were numerous as well: Thomas Aquinas College sent their largest-ever contingent: 220 students. They were joined by Arizona State Students for Life, students from Denver’s Jesuit Regis University, students from the Newman Center of Oregon, and others.

As always, protesters tried to disrupt the Walk. Three young women managed to sneak around to the northern side of the speaker’s area and throw literature onto the stage while Daleiden was speaking. They then remove their tops and shouted obscenities. Although almost no one at the rally was aware of the attempted disruption, it did lead to one of the day’s most memorable and charming moments: the Sisters of Life giving their cloaks to the half-naked girls so they would not catch cold. The girls were arrested.

There were also between 100-150 protesters from Stop Patriarchy, a group affiliated with the Revolutionary Communist Party, waiting for the Walk at the corner of Powell and Market Street. But as always they were outnumbered by about 400 to one.

 

You Came, You Walked, God Conquered!

For one day the City of St. Francis returned to its roots as 15,000 dedicated pro-lifers came to witness to the sanctity of every life at the 18th Annual Walk for Life West Coast.

Energized by the impending U.S. Supreme Court case which may finally overturn the notorious Roe v. Wade decision, you came from as far away as Oregon, Idaho and Nebraska to gather in Civic Center Plaza. But, as Walk co-chair Eva Muntean cautioned “As you know, even if this happens, our work is not done.” Eva was referring to California’s pro-abortion legislative supermajority and Gov. Gavin Newsom who have vowed to turn California – which already has no restrictions on abortion—into an “abortion sanctuary” for the nation. Walk co-chair Dolores Meehan echoed this, urging support for women, children and families, saying, “There is no act so ordinary that it cannot have extraordinary consequences for someone in need.”

Our speakers were fantastic, as always. “I believe Roe v. Wade has been outlawed, because God remembers you,” thundered the Rev. Clenard H. Childress, Jr. said, predicting the justices have already decided against Roe v. Wade in their private consultations. “We are the civil rights movement of this day.”

Speaker and Los Angeles Silent No More activist Irene Zamorano-Archacki, who had an abortion when she was six months pregnant, appealed directly to President Joe Biden in her speech at the rally. “I have a message for President Biden. You are a baptized Catholic. He healed me and he can heal you.”

And she stressed the importance of every day activism. “My daughter would be alive today if there was just one sidewalk counselor,” Zamorano-Archacki said, recounting her story of visiting the abortion clinic hoping someone would stop her.

The Walk’s most memorable moment, and one of the most memorable moments of any Walk, was the speech by Christi Hockel Davenport, a lady with Down Syndrome, displaying the value of her life and of every life. Excerpt: 

“I hope you will remember this about me: I may not be as smart as some people, but I know that being smart isn’t always what makes people happy. And what makes people happy is loving and being loved. And when it comes to loving, people who have Down syndrome are truly exceptional. We are badly needed in this world.”

“We will prevail,” San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone told the crowd, later joining the thousands streaming down Market Street, as the college students carrying the Walk for Life “Abortion Hurts Women” banner, chanted, “We love babies, yes, we do! We love babies, How about you?”

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