by Ben Johnson
French pro-lifers unfurl their banner at the U.S. March for Life last week.
WASHINGTON, D.C., January 30, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Americans weren’t the only ones who sacrificed their time and money to travel long distances and join the crowd of hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers who converged on the U.S. Capitol last Monday, demanding that U.S. legislators protect the unborn.
This year, a contingent of pro-life activists from Europe came to show their solidarity with American advocates – and left strengthened to continue their activism in the darker, more secular environment of the European Union.
The activists hailed from Germany, France, and Belgium, among other nations.
Bernhoft, a pro-life activist from Frankfurt who represents the Germany group SOS Leben, told LifeSiteNews.com he had been attending the U.S. March for Life for at least 10 years. “Every year I come here to support the March for Life,” he said.
“We come to show that abortion is…not only a local issue for the United States or for us. It is a worldwide problem,” he said.
Germany holds its own march “every year in September every year in Berlin,” which is known as “1,000 Crosses for Life.”
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Bernhoft’s organization’s website credits the March for Life as “a tailwind to right to life activists in Germany, because they can feel part of a global family, a family with common values and goals, a family that fights for the sanctity of life and against the culture of death.”
The French organization Droit de Naitre (“Right to be Born”) stood alongside SOS Leben at last week’s March. France’s eighth annual March for Life earlier this month had a record turnout, undergirded by the support of 32 Roman Catholic bishops and Pope Benedict XVI. Its organizers say 30,000 people showed up, including sister delegations from Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Romania, Spain, and Slovakia.
Similar marches have taken place in Italy, Ireland, Belgium, Spain, and Romania.
The EU visitors came to Washington under the auspices of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property. Norman Fulkerson, public relations director at TFP, told LifeSiteNews.com, “Every year we bring a contingent from different European countries” in order “to expose them to the pro-life movement here in the United States.” Fulkerson said many of his international guests are “surprised to see the number of Americans who come out.”
“There is an image of America that’s projected across the world as being a very liberal progressive nation – which it is – but what people don’t realize is that within there’s a vibrant conservative reactionary movement,” he said.
That has given some the courage to bring the pro-life message to their home countries. “They often go back and start their own pro-life marches,” Fulkerson said. “Poland had their first pro-life march because of this five years ago, and they had thousands come out, which is very good for a European contingent.”
TFP’s display at this year’s event featured its statue of Our Lady of Fatima, a part of its America Needs Fatima campaign, and a marching band. Many of its members belong to TFP Student Action, which defends traditional values on campus.
Contact Information:
American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property http://www.tfp.org
P.O. Box 341
Hanover PA 17331
tfp@tfp.org
(888) 317-5571
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