Every January for the past 40 years, anti-abortion activists gather in Washington D.C. for the March for Life, an annual rally protesting Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in the United States.

For the past three years, Nate Addington, the campus minister for the Catholic Campus Ministry, has taken a group of Ashland University students to DC for the March.

“We took 38 total between here and the College of Wooster. This is the biggest group we’ve ever taken, even with Wooster combined,” Addington said.

The March has been a largely Catholic event, but new president Jeanne Monahan emphasized bringing Christians of all denominations to the March. 

The trip is organized through the Catholic Campus Ministry, but the group is not exclusively Catholic. 

This year the group included several Protestants who supported March for Life’s cause.

“It was really cool to do our small part to bring more Protestants because that will only make our cause stronger,” sophomore Eileen Navratil said.

The trip began at 9 p.m. the night before the March. A bus left from Ashland headed towards DC. With a few stops for refueling and driver changes. 

The group arrived in DC at about 6:30 a.m. for the closing mass of the Right to Life vigil held at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. 

For the Protestants on the trip, this was their first experience with Catholic worship.

“Since I’m Baptist, (our worship) has almost nothing in common with Catholicism,” freshman Colin Suffecool said.

Navratil felt the Mass was the most impactful part of the trip.

“Just being in a church with 10,000 people and knowing that there will be 60 times that many people is pretty overwhelming,” she said.

After the Mass, the group had some time to bundle up before the outdoor rally. 

It was the coldest March Addington, who has attended five Marches, has been to, which kept this year’s March below last year’s numbers due to bus and flight cancellations. However, Navratil preferred the cold to the previous year’s snow.

“The March itself was more tolerable this year because last year it was snowing so by the end of it we were soaking wet. This year it was just cold,” Navratil said.

This year’s March also included a new format, shortening the speeches of anti-abortion leaders and bringing in Matt Maher, a contemporary Christian singer-songwriter. 

The March added a new emphasis on adoption as well.

“It’s pretty important to me that we find alternatives for those women who find themselves in that dire situation,” Navratil said.

The March was an opportunity for Ashland students to go out and stand up for their beliefs.

“It means we are accomplishing what we are trying to do,” said Addington. “The message that Father (Vince Hawk) preaches on Sunday and that we talk about on Monday doesn’t just stay in the chapel.”