Perspective: Inside the new ‘Latter-day Saints for Life’ movement – By Hanna Seariac (Deseret News) / Feb 8, 2023
Latter-day Saints share their experience at the March for Life as experts say the pro-life movement needs to be pluralistic
When Mary Collett was pregnant with her fourth child, her doctor told her some grim news — her baby had a heart defect. Throughout the pregnancy, she was routinely tested and in her third trimester, her doctor offered an abortion. The reason? Her baby would have Down syndrome.
She was agitated by her doctor’s offer to abort her child. “They thought his life wasn’t worth it because he had Down syndrome,” she said. Collett was able to deliver her son and he lived for 91⁄2 months before he died due to health complications. She fondly recounted how her son made her whole family more compassionate and through his short life, influenced their neighbors and friends to become better people.
Collett’s short time with her son galvanized her pro-life activism, which led her and two of her children to go to Washington, D.C., on Jan. 20 for the March for Life. In the sea of religious and secular organizations, she marched with Latter-day Saints for Life — it was the first time this group attended the march. Though the group may be small in numbers, they have a big vision: to transform into one of the most visible groups on the national pro-life stage.
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