A new atmosphere for this year’s Walk for Life

Jan. 29--This story has been modified since its initial publication.

The Rev. Paul Willis hopes today's "prayer walk" down Alder Street won't turn into a political demonstration. But he also recognizes that the cause for the walk is entrenched in the political climate these days.

"It is not a political walk. In fact we almost canceled (participating in) it because of the political climate," Willis, the lead pastor for Amazing Grace Church of the Nazarene, said Saturday morning.

Today at 1:30 p.m., local abortion foes will walk from Amazing Grace Church, 717 E. Alder Street, to St. Patrick Catholic Church.

The local Walk for Life is an annual event in Walla Walla, as well as in many communities across the nation. And it usually takes place on or around Jan. 22, the anniversary of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision known as Roe v. Wade -- which decriminalized abortion nationwide.

This year's Walk for Life, however, has had two harbingers of what is expected to be a major battle across the nation between those opposed to abortion and abortion-rights supporters. Those two portents of things to come were the Jan. 20 inauguration of President Donald Trump and the Jan. 21 women's marches in hundreds of communities across the nation and world.

In Walla Walla, the Jan. 21 Women's March had well over 2,000 participants who took part in a 30-minute march through downtown and another hour of speeches before and after the event.

Willis does not expect anywhere near that amount for today's Walk for Life, which traditionally has a few hundred participants and nowhere near the level of organization as last Saturday's Women's March.

"I think one year we may have had a police escort," Willis said, adding they have no permits, no Facebook sing-up page and few signs, if any.

"It's a prayer walk; so the point is not to protest but to be in prayer at the time," Willis added.

In other communities, it is a full out March for Life, complete with signs, group chants and speakers with bullhorns.

In fact, the Washington, D.C., March for Life on Friday had, for the first time, the vice president as a speaker.

"We've come to a historic moment in the cause for life," Vice President Mike Pence said, as noted in an Associated Press story on Friday's march. "Life is winning in America."

Though no official crowd counts were available, Friday's march in Washington was said to have been the biggest in years, rivaling the 2013 march, which had an estimated 650,000 participants. That year was also the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Many of the marchers in today's walk have participated in the event for a number of years, like St. Patrick's parishioner Jennifer Caso, who has done the local Walk for Life for 10 years.

Caso added that crowd counts and presidencies are not important to her, but the number that does matter to her is the estimated number of abortions performed in the U.S. since Roe v. Wade.

"We are not doing the walk because of who our president is," Caso said. "We are marching because of the 58 million babies that have been killed."

Alfred Diaz can be reached at alfreddiaz@wwub.com or 526-8325.

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