By Maria V. Gallagher, Legislative Director, Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation
“Spectacular”—that is probably the best word that could be used to describe the 2023 Celebrate Life Banquet sponsored by the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Education Fund.
Much of the credit goes to keynote speaker and cable news host Raymond Arroyo, who communicated sheer joy—even as he explained the challenges that lie before the pro-life movement.
Arroyo characterized the pro-life movement as a “movement of hope,” calling the Pennsylvania affiliate of National Right to Life as a “sign and extender of hope.”
“The Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation is a little thing called to do big things,” Arroyo said.
Arroyo also invoked the words of stalwart pro-life advocate Mother Teresa, who stunned the audience at the 1994 National Prayer Breakfast by saying “The greatest destroyer of peace today is abortion…please don’t kill the child.”
He noted that “abortion is now a state battle—and a ferocious one.” Certainly, that is true in Pennsylvania, where Democrat pro-abortion Governor Josh Shapiro has threatened to cut off funding for the Commonwealth’s award-winning Pregnancy and Parenting Support Services program, administered by Real Alternatives. The program funds pregnancy resource centers, maternity homes, and adoption agencies throughout Pennsylvania and has become a model for the rest of the nation.
Hundreds of people from all across the Commonwealth turned out for the Celebrate Life Banquet, which benefits the life-saving, life-changing work of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Education Fund. They came to both celebrate and commiserate in light of the struggles Pennsylvania faces in trying to maintain legal protections for preborn children and their mothers.
To learn more about the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, please visit our website at www.paprolife.org .