Support for the unborn
COEUR d’ALENE — There was a time when Kathy Gutierrez wavered on whether to abort her daughter Bri.
But on Saturday the Coeur d’Alene woman proudly wore a pin with a baby photo of her now 24-year-old daughter while participating in the Right to Life March along U.S. 95 in Coeur d’Alene with about 130 others.
“I raised her on my own, but there was a time when there was a lot of peer pressure about it being easier not to go that way,” Gutierrez said.
She said watching her mother and father raise six kids made her decision not to abort easier.
“That gave me the faith to be the best mom that I can be, and I was blessed for making that decision,” Gutierrez said.
Today marks the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the controversial landmark decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on abortion.
Those who participated in the march braved a chilly, slushy morning to protest abortion by listening to guest speakers Rep. Vito Barbieri, R-Dalton Gardens, and Beth Martin, a doctor at Coeur d’Alene Pediatrics, and walk with signs on a pathway along U.S. 95.
“There’s been about 51 million tiny tragedies,” said Hans Neumann of Spirit Lake and the local Right to Life group, referring the the number of abortions since the practice was legalized.
The group carried signs with some reading “Smile — your mom chose life”, “Adoption: Loving option” and “Lord, forgive us and our nation.”
“We’re all created equal and that creation begins in the womb,” Barbieri told attendees. “Because (the unborn) can’t speak for themselves, here we stand in this battle.”
According to a tally by the abortion-rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, 69 bills aimed at restricting access to abortion were enacted last year in 26 states — the second-highest total in 16 years of tracking such data.
Christopher Estes, an abortion provider in Miami, described the influx of restrictive laws as dismaying.
“All these things don’t do anything to decrease women’s need for abortion,” he said. “It just hurts their care — particularly for the most vulnerable women.”
Martin was asked to speak about when the unborn starts to feel pain, but that’s difficult to pinpoint since they can’t be asked and there’s a lack of studies on such information.
She said, however, that nerves start to develop in the mouth at about eight weeks, hands 11 weeks and abdomen 15 weeks. From 20 to 24 weeks, the nerves are connected to the brain. And, at 28 weeks, there’s signs of “facial grimacing.”
Martin said she’s “ashamed” of assertions in her profession that claim the unborn don’t feel pain at some point.
Barbieri said there have been many “casualties and emotional scars” over abortion, but hope for change is not lost.
“Continue your prayers,” he said. “It is a dark world, but let the Lord light your path.”
The Associated Press contributed to this story.