Members of Precious Life travelled to Washington to unite with over 300,000 pro-lifers in the 37th Annual March for Life - one of the largest – if not the largest - in the March's history

Moira Brennan writes: Our trip to Washington was a wonderful and inspirational experience.

In the days before and after the March, we met with many of the USA's greatest pro-life leaders, and we attended many pro-life meetings and conferences at which Director of Precious Life Bernadette Smyth was guest speaker.

(click on images to enlarge)

Our first meeting was Jack Ames, one of the founders of the Defend Life organisation, which has been promoting the Culture of Life and exposing the evil culture of death since 1987. Jack has invited Bernadette to speak at the Defend Life Lecture Series which he organises in high schools, seminaries, and churches.

Our next meeting was with David Bereit and Shawn Carney - the Leadership Team of the 40 Days for Life Campaign. Bernadette addressed the meeting and spoke about how Precious Life has been promoting the 40 Days For Life initiative in Ireland and UK for a number of years now. This year's Campaign during Lent begins 17th February.

We also met with leading pro-life congressman Chris Smith, who described the pro-life movement as “the greatest human rights struggle on earth”. On the eve of the March, Congressman Smith took the Obama Administration to task on the floor of the U.S. House, chastising them for promoting the abortion agenda.

We also attended a Leaders Meetings which included training in pro-life leadership.

On the morning of the March we meet with Fr Frank Pavone - Director of Priest for Life. Fr Frank is well known to pro-lifers in Ireland and UK from his Gospel of Life shows on the EWTN satellite channel. Bernadette invited Fr Frank to speak at our annual Rally for Life to be held in Belfast this summer.



We then met with Fr . Thomas J. Euteneuer - president of Human Life International.


We also met with the Sisters of Life - an active religious community of women founded in 1991 for the protection and enhancement of the sacredness of every human life.


The March for Life was truly an amazing experience. It was amazing to look out over the sea of youth who dominated the massive crowd. During the March for Life we proudly carried the Precious Life banner high and we received rapturous applause from many people along the route who were excited to see a group from Ireland in Washington.

After the March we spent the evening with our friend and mentor, Joe Schielder of the Pro-Life Action League.
Joe - author of best selling book, 99 Ways To Stop Abortion - has been described as the "Father of the Pro-Life Activism". We discussed new ideas and projects on how to keep Ireland abortion-free.

The following day, we attended the Students for Life of America National Conference. Over 1000 young people in attendance heard Bernadette speak about how we are successfully fighting to keep abortion out of Ireland. Bernadette was invited to speak by Marie Smith from the Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues who gave a lecture on current abortion threat in Europe. It was a day full of education, training, and networking to help students make a difference on their college and university campuses by proclaiming the pro-life message.

We also had the great privilege of spending an afternoon with Pam Stencil - founder of Enlighten Communications Inc. Pam has traveled worldwide, speaking in person to over 500,000 young people each year about issues of sexuality and the importance of abstinence - her videos are viewed by millions worldwide.



Our trip to Washington was a fantastic experience. Everyone we met was thrilled to meet pro-lifers from a country where abortion is still illegal and they were so eager to learn how we are keeping abortion out of Ireland. We inspired so many others who are fighting to protect God's precious unborn children. We returned home full of renewed zeal and enthusiasm to continue to the battle to keep our country abortion-free.

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Bernadette Smyth and Jack Ames from Defend Life




Bernadette Smyth and Joe Scheidler from the Pro-Life Action League




Precious Life's Banner at the March for Life




Precious Life's Banner at the March for Life




Bernadette Smyth with David Bereit and Shawn Carney from 40 Days for Life Campaign




Bernadette Smyth with Pam Stencil with Fr . Thomas J. Euteneuer from Human Life International.




Bernadette Smyth and Moira Brennan with Pam Stencil (centre) from Enlighten Communications




Moira Brennan and Bernadette Smyth with Fr Frank Pavone from Priests for Life




Moira Brennan and Bernadette Smyth with Congressman Chris Smith




Moira Brennan and Bernadette Smyth with Fr Jim Heyd (right) from Priests for Life, Congressman Chris Smith (right), and Marie Smith (far right) from the Parliamentary Network for Critical Issues




Moira Brennan and Bernadette Smyth with the Sisters of Life from New York