March for Life Keeps Getting Younger and Less Catholic

In keeping with a trend from the last five marches, the 46th annual March for Life in Washington D.C. Friday was noticeably younger in its participants.

Moreover, although the roots of the march and much of leadership are decidedly Roman Catholic, the ranks of abortion opponents from different faiths are clearly growing in the pro-life movement’s biggest event. 

With an estimated 100,000 pro-life enthusiasts descending on the nation’s capital, that was the opinion of numerous marchers who spoke to Newsmax.

"There are more young people than there used to be — and that’s how it should be," Raymond Kocharski, a retiree from Newton, New Jersey who has been marching for life for a decade, told us. "They're the future of this movement."

Wendy Lee of Northern Virginia, a mother of seven originally from New Zealand, agreed.

"It's pretty uplifting to see all the young people we saw today," said Lee, flanked by three of her children. "And they are here, I think, because they believe in the unborn."

We spoke to several of the young people, and first time attendees at what is inarguably the biggest pro-life event of the year.

Kaitlyn Marion, a junior at Fisher High School in Lancaster, Ohio, said she was coming to the March for Life for the first time because "a lot of my friends are here, and being here, I think, impacts on you as a Christian."

Marion added that she found her first March "amazing" because "so many people are here with the same objective."

Another first-time marcher, Carla Gonzalez of the University of Massachusetts, said she "made the decision to come because I am strongly pro-life and believe abortion is a sin.  We as a society have to recognize this and do something."

Although Roman Catholics are easily the largest group marching for life, one finds that non-Catholics continue to increase among their ranks every year. 

Pam Thornton of Lake Anna, Virginia, a Presbyterian, said "it doesn’t matter whether you are Catholic or Presbyterian or something else. I feel so strongly about murdering our babies I had to be here. It's a pro-life event, and that's all that matters. I would come if atheists were putting it on."

Tina Brock, executive director of a pregnancy center in Carnesville, Georgia and a Baptist, told us, "I was led to the cause of life because when I was in high school in Atlanta in 1985, I got pregnant and had the baby aborted. I do what I'm doing because I'm making up for that what I did so long ago. And our sidewalk counseling has turned a lot of lives around."

John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.