Katie Robinson writes: Attending the March for Life in Washington last week was an incredible experience for both myself and the other YD members who travelled over to the USA to join hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers to make a stand for Life and to protest the radical expansion of abortion under President Barack Obama.

The 37th annual March for Life which takes place on the anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade legalizing abortion throughout the United States, was the biggest and most enthusiastic yet! The number of marchers who made the journey to our nation’s capital to “Stand Up Now and Unite for the Life Principles” exceeded the record number of participants that attended last year.

We arrived the day before the March and joined up with our friends in CEC for Life in the evening for a motivational talk from pro-life advocate Star Parker who works with the group CURE (Coalition for Urban Renewal and Education) where she reminded us that abortion not only scars women and kill babies but affects the entire nation, and our whole culture.

The next day we joined Americans of all ages and races who had traveled from all over the States to flood the capital for the March to express their opposition to the destruction of more than 52 million unborn children. They carried signs ranging from "Defend Life" to "Abortion is Not Health Care" to "Stop Abortion Now."

I was so impressed seeing so many young people at the March with whole schools and universities turned out to stand up for their beliefs.

Some of the greatest leaders in the pro-life world were present; Joe Scheidler, Pat Mahoney, Fr Frank Pavone and others who have achieved so much against the odds. What was remarkable however, was that of the thousands of people we met, most wanted to congratulate us on Ireland’s pro-life stance. It was a great affirmation of the work we do together here in Ireland. Speaking at several March for Life events we shared some of the strategies and activities used to keep Ireland abortion-free.

The following day we went to a Planned Parenthood Clinic. This was my first time outside a clinic and it was truly a chilling experience, as we prayed outside we saw young mothers being taken inside by the pro-abort “Escorts”. Pro Lifers weren’t allowed to speak to the women or give them information. All we could do was be a silent witness to the babies being brutally killed inside this clinic.

However many Americans are very hopeful for the future. The day before the March a new survey was released that shows a strong majority of Americans believe abortion to be "morally wrong." Rev. Pat Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defence Coalition, is starting out with a new strategy: he and others have located the American states with only one or two Planned Parenthood clinics, the idea is to close down each of these clinics so the state will be abortion free. They will start working in Mississippi in the next few months.

We had an inspiring experience in Washington and it was fantastic meeting so many incredible people who are working tirelessly to try and end abortion in America. But this trip was also a warning to all of us as to what will happen in Ireland if we don’t give our all to the pro-life cause. Despite the best efforts of so many brave and good people in the US, they have seen firsthand when abortion becomes legal it produces a mindset that is very difficult to reverse.

January is a major month for pro-life marches and walks not only all over the United States, in Denver, Colorado and San Francisco, but also in Europe, where the 6th annual Marche pour la Vie took place in France. It was a huge success with around 25,000 pro-lifers, consisting largely of families and youth, marching peacefully against abortion on the 35th anniversary of the legalization of abortion in the country. Cécile Edel, president of Choisir La Vie, called upon her countrymen to reflect upon "the disastrous result" of 35 years of legal abortion: the "unspeakable sufferings" of millions of women, and the "blatant injustice" towards millions of their unborn brothers and sisters.