Days until we Walk for Life on January 25, 2025

Speakers

Every year, we invite speakers to inform and inspire us as we stand up for the lives of unborn children and their families. Below is a short bio for the speakers we have lined up this year:

Lila Rose

Lila Rose is a writer, speaker and activist. Lila founded and serves as president of Live Action, a human rights nonprofit with the largest digital footprint for the global pro-life movement. Lila’s investigative reporting on the abortion industry has been featured in most major news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, the Atlantic, CBS and ABC Nightline. Her media appearances include Fox News’ Hannity and Tucker Carlson Tonight, as well as CNN, BBC, and many other national television and radio programs. Lila has written for the Hill, Politico, USA Today, and First Things, among others.

Lila speaks internationally on family and cultural issues, and has addressed members of the European Parliament and spoken at the United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women. She has been named among National Journal’s “25 Most Influential Washington Women Under 35,” and Christianity Today’s “33 under Thirty-Three.”

Kaya Jones

Kaya Jones is a Canadian-born singer, songwriter, and producer. Growing up in Las Vegas, by age 16 she had signed with Capitol Records, and in 2003 auditioned and was selected from thousands of other singers for a spot with the Pussycat Dolls. Since leaving the Pussycat Dolls, Jones developed her career as a solo artist. At the age of 26, she became the youngest female in history to start her own record label. In 2019, Jones won a Grammy Award for a collaboration with gospel artist Jason Crabb. But this storybook existence masked a dark reality, because by the age 16 she had the first of three abortions. Today she shares her experience of abortion and her journey of healing.

Kimberly Henkel

Dr. Kimberly Henkel is the Founder and Executive Director of Springs of Love, a ministry to encourage, educate and equip Catholics to discern and live out the call to foster and adopt. She is also Co-Founder of Springs in the Desert, a sister ministry to Springs of Love, that is dedicated to spiritually and emotionally accompanying those struggling with infertility and loss. Kimberly holds a PhD in Moral Theology/Ethics, with a focus in Bioethics, from the Catholic University of America. She was the former Executive Vice-President of the National Pro-Life Action Center on Capitol Hill and has appeared on EWTN’s Women of Grace television show, Catholic Answers Live, The Catholic Doctor’s Radio Show, CFN Live, Fox News, C-SPAN, and CNN and has been published in The Linacre Quarterly, The National Catholic Register, The Catholic Times, and Humanum. Kimberly is the Executive Producer of the Springs of Love Foster & Adoption Video Stories featured on EWTN On-Demand and FORMED. She studied bioethics in Rome at the Regina Apostolorum and earned a Master of Theological Studies degree from the Pontifical John Paul II Institute for Studies on Marriage & Family. Kimberly and her husband of 15 years, Greg, have fostered and are adoptive parents to four young children in rural Ohio. 

Rev. Clenard Childress

 

The Rev. Clenard Howard Childress, Jr., has spoken at almost every Walk West for Life Coast since its founding. A life- long resident of Montclair, New Jersey, he joined the New Calvary Baptist Church in September of 1974 under the pastorate of Dr. Shellie Sampson. He was ordained in 1988 by the North Jersey Shiloh Association and installed as Senior Pastor of New Calvary in April of 1989. The Reverend Childress is a tireless advocate for the Right to Life for all American, with a special emphasis on eliminating the scourge of abortion from the African-American community. He is one of the most respected leaders in the pro-life movement. His accomplishments and awards are too many to list here, but include his 1999 appointment as President of the Life Education And Resource Network (L.E.A.R.N) in Northeast Region; and the founder of BlackGenocide.org. Rev. Childress was extensively profiled in PBS’s Frontline documentary “Anti-Abortion Crusaders inside the African American Abortion Battle.”