To encourage every student to stand up for the defenseless, the Catholic University of America (CUA) canceled all classes during the Jan. 23 March for Life and held two days of events about protecting human dignity.
The first event, held Jan. 22, was a panel discussion entitled “Global Anti-Human Trafficking Movement at a Crossroads,” according to a press release from CUA. The panel featured five former U.S. ambassadors, who discussed the horrors of human trafficking. They expressed concern over the Trump administration’s decisions to drastically reduce staff at anti-trafficking efforts in the State Department and eliminate 69 programs working against child labor, forced labor, and human trafficking.
“The panelists called for restored funding, independent leadership, and a renewed focus on prevention, protection, and prosecution,” the release stated.
On the afternoon of the day of the march, students, faculty, staff, and their families gathered in the university’s Heritage Hall to pray together and listen to CUA’s president, Peter Kilpatrick, give a speech about the need to fight for life.
CUA is just a few miles from the National Mall, where the March for Life begins each year, and many students showed up to represent their school’s devotion to human life.
After the march, CUA’s Institute for Human Ecology hosted an event featuring Ross Douthat, a New York Times columnist, and Lila Rose, founder and president of Live Action. Titled “Where Does the Pro-Life Movement Go from Here?”, the conversation focused on the fact that, despite the overturn of Roe v. Wade, the national abortion rate has risen in recent years.
The event was recorded and will be released as an episode of Douthat’s podcast, “Interesting Times with Ross Douthat.”
“All in all, it was a great week of impactful discussions at Catholic University – conversations that will hopefully spark action in public policy and legislatures around the country and world,” the release said. “With so many innocent lives hanging in the balance, what are we willing to do to defend them?”