Tens of thousands of pro-lifers rally in 21st annual Walk for Life West Coast
“Don’t let the enemy derail you.”
-Ryan Bomberger, Walk for Life speaker
By Valerie Schmalz
A high school student from Turlock summed it up: “I am here to prevent abortion.”
Elizabeth, a mother from Milipitas, said it a different way: “We want all babies to have a future.”
Dylan, his group of friends from Sacred Heart Parish in Turlock, and Elizabeth from St. Elizabeth de Portugal Parish were among tens of thousands of people who came from San Francisco, Berkeley and the San Joaquin Valley and from as far away as southern California and Oregon to demonstrate publicly for life and against abortion.
Participants in the 21st annual Walk for Life West Coast filled the plaza in front of City Hall and walked, singing, chanting and holding signs for more than a mile along Market Street to the Embarcadero, behind the Walk’s banner “Abortion hurts women.”
“Babies are life. I have my baby—he is my everything,” said Elizabeth of Young Adults for Christ of St. Elizabeth de Portugal Church in Milpitas, who came with her husband, toddler and friends.
The outlook for life in California is worse now than it was when a group of Bay Area residents came together to start the Walk for Life West Coast in 2005. California enshrined abortion until birth in its constitution in a statewide vote five months after the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned Roe v. Wade and the state pours billions into support for abortion.
For the those who came by bus, by car and by public transport from around the state and from San Francisco, the day was one of joyful connection with fellow believers in the sacred right of every human being to life, from conception to natural death. It was also a time to stand up for life.
“These babies don’t have a voice, and they are being killed,” said Dylan.
The Walk speakers said the abortion industry cloaks evil in the garb of false compassion, and they called for hope, for healing and courage.
Walk speaker Kelly Lester said as an abortion clinic worker: “We did everything to make sure the woman’s choice was abortion.” Lester was a ranked tennis player with a bright academic future whose abortion at 15 upended her life. “I walked out and ran from everything good in my life.” Drugs, crime with a cartel, more abortions and work at an abortion clinic followed. Now a married mother of six, Lester works with an organization of former abortion workers, And Then There Were None, as well Pro-Love Ministries and Maps Global.
“If you turn to the Lord, he will heal you,” Lester said.
Speaker Ryan Bomberger, co-founder of The Radiance Foundation, told the crowd: “Life is everything. Without it we are literally nothing.” Conceived in rape and adopted into a large family, Bomberger’s organization is based on the belief that every human life has purpose.
“Our opposition doesn’t want us to speak up. Our opposition doesn’t want us to stand up. But who will speak up and stand up for the innocent here?” Bomberger asked a cheering crowd. “Don’t let the enemy derail you.”
Also speaking was Sister Deirdre “Dede” Byrne, a former Army surgeon and member of the Little Workers of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus and Mary, who talked about the dangers and evils of IVF.
The Walk’s final speaker was Walter Hoye, Black American pro-life activist and co-founder of Issues4Life Foundation. He rallied the crowd as they set out to walk along Market Street: “Now is the time to stand up for life. Now is the time to walk for life.”
The Walk draws people largely from Northern California, but participants also travel from the south and from neighboring states. Bishops in Monterey and San Jose dioceses offer Walk for Life Masses. The day before, Hoye leads a Stand4Life rally in Oakland focused on abortion against black babies. On Friday evening, a prayer vigil is held at St. Dominic Church in San Francisco where this year the celebrant and homilist was EWTN host Father Mark Mary, MFVA. The day always begins with the Walk for Life Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption.
In his homily at the packed Walk for Life Mass that morning, San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore J. Cordileone said the pro-abortion narrative has devolved from ‘necessary evil’ until now abortion is celebrated as a positive good, “to the point that anyone who would hold the opposite opinion is subject to a sort of persecution.” But the deceptive ‘empowerment’ mantras are hollow, he said, and trust in God is crucial.
“We do this for love of God and love of neighbor: mothers, their babies, and all those who are neediest and most vulnerable among us. If you want to do this for worldly credit, to receive accolades from society and kudos from the influencers of popular culture, forget it. The true heroes do this knowing that, for the most part, people will not hear about it. But God knows, and our greatest – and, really, only – concern should be to please Him,” Archbishop Cordileone said.
“It is important that we try to be witnesses to the Gospel of Lfe and that we do that in a joyful, courageous way,” said Sacramento Bishop Jaime Soto, who has joined the Walk almost every year along with thousands from his diocese, and joined his brother bishops, Archbishop Cordileone, and Santa Rosa Bishop Robert Vasa and Auxiliary Bishop of Military Affairs Joseph Coffey, at the Walk for Life Mass that morning. At the Walk, Archbishop Cordileone presented the Walk’s St. Gianna Molla Award for Prolife Heroism to Bishop Coffey.
“Doing this walk in the City of St. Francis, we bring a joyful noise into the city,” said Bishop Soto.
“Our presence here, we are pilgrims of hope.”
More information at walkforlifewc.com
