Why these pro-lifers continue to march even after Roe's reversal
Runs in the family
For Kerry Newhouse from Memphis, Tennessee, pro-life activism runs in the family. She and her husband engage in "counseling in front of a Planned Parenthood to talk to the women going in to offer them alternatives."
"Even though Roe has been overturned, we more than ever need to step up for these women because there are still unplanned pregnancies happening, and we need to make sure they know that there are resources for them," she told CP.
Holding a sign reading, "Thanks mom, I march for you," Newhouse attended the March for Life on behalf of her mother, Susan Seale, who founded Meridian Right to Life in Meridian, Mississippi, in the 1980s, and Oklahoma Pro-Life Action Network in the 1990s.
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She told CP that her mother, who now suffers from dementia and turned 79 on Friday, "also did sidewalk counseling in both of those states."
"We always talked about coming to the March for Life," Newhouse said. "I wish she could be here with me today."
Newhouse highlighted a personal connection she had to the case that overturned Roe.
"My mother did sidewalk counseling in front of the clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, where the Dobbs case originated," she said.
Now that Dobbs is in effect, the former abortion clinics in Memphis, Tennessee, that she protested in front of only offer abortion referrals. The nearest abortion facility is approximately four hours away in Carbondale, Illinois. Even with abortion banned in Tennessee, Newhouse continues pro-life activism.
"We actually hand out a little gift bag that has some gifts inside plus information about the crisis center next door. We actually have a crisis pregnancy center literally next door to the Planned Parenthood in Memphis. So we will literally walk the women next door should they choose to go, and then we can get them in for a free pregnancy test, an ultrasound, and all the counseling and all the resources they need. So there's still quite a need even in a post-Roe America."
While Newhouse and her mother are passionate about helping women choose life, the issue of abortion has had a direct impact on the youngest generation of Newhouse's family.
"My three children are adopted, and so I'm very grateful to their birth mothers for choosing life, and then I have the privilege now of raising three beautiful children," she said.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
