Pro-life activists gathered in Cherry Hill for a 40-hour prayer campaign to end abortion as the U.S. Supreme Court took up one of the biggest abortion cases in decades.
“This was an opportunity to pray for and support the pro-life cause, as one who believes in the sanctity of life,” said Mark Kiernan, a Knight of Columbus of Saint Maria Council 1443 (Haddon Heights), and the New Jersey Knights of Columbus liaison for the 40 Days for Life campaign, who stood vigil from 5 to 7 a.m. Dec. 1.
Organized by the national 40 Days for Life campaign, the vigil was held from 7 a.m. Nov. 30 to 11 p.m. Dec. 1 outside the Cherry Hill Women’s Center along Kings Highway. Faithful from multiple dioceses across New Jersey and the community at-large prayed the Rosary or carried pro-life signs as the High Court’s justices heard oral arguments Dec. 1 in Washington, D.C., in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. The case is an appeal from Mississippi to keep its ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The justices will focus on whether all pre-viability bans on elective abortions are unconstitutional, a ruling that many believe could set a precedent for further restrictions on abortion, especially Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling legalizing abortion in the United States.
“I have hope” that justices will uphold the ban, said Dorothy Flegel of Saint Peter Parish, Merchantville, who prayed the Rosary and Chaplet of Divine Mercy outside the center for over an hour starting at midnight. “There’s purpose to every life.”
In a statement marking the Supreme Court’s meeting, Archbishop William E. Lori, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Pro-Life Activities, said that “In the United States, abortion takes the lives of over 600,000 babies every year. Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health could change that. We pray that the Court will do the right thing and allow states to once again limit or prohibit abortion, and in doing so protect millions of unborn children and their mothers from this painful, life-destroying act. We invite all people of good will to uphold the dignity of human life by joining us in prayer and fasting for this important case.”
A ruling is not expected before summer 2022.
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