More than 450 Catholics braved cold temperatures Jan. 19 to huddle inside the Cathedral of St. Andrew in Little Rock before gathering on the steps of the State Capitol for the annual March for Life.
2024 was a contentious year for the pro-life movement in Arkansas and across the nation, as several states voted to legalize abortion. A proposed Arkansas Abortion Amendment was narrowly left off the ballot when Arkansas Secretary of State John Thurston decided July 10 that Arkansans for Limited Government didn’t follow rules regarding paid canvassers.
Following a series of legal filings, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a ruling Aug. 22, saying supporters of the Arkansas Abortion Amendment failed to meet state guidelines to get the amendment on the Nov. 5 ballot. New concerns are rising as pregnant women in Arkansas seek abortions in neighboring states like Missouri, where voters legalized abortion in the Missouri Constitution in the November election.
“The sheer magnitude of the number of children who die every day from abortion is heartbreaking, and even though it’s illegal here in Arkansas, it’s happening all over the world … 73 million babies are killed by abortion worldwide each year,” said Catherine Phillips, director of the Respect Life Office. “It’s a horrifying statistic.”
Phillips said easy access to chemical abortions through pills has made it hard to determine how many abortions are happening now.

“Even when abortion was legal here, on average, 3,000 children died from abortion,” she said. “… The sheer magnitude is why we continue to pray. When we pray, we do the hard work of changing our own hearts, and I think really that’s the key — our own hearts need to be moved. Moved to the firm conviction that every instance of life is precious.”
At the noon Mass for Life, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor said it is important to work together as people of faith and a community to “turn something as frightening as an unplanned pregnancy into a blessing.”

“In America, we often … see a problem — in this case, unplanned pregnancy … and people often intervene to make the worst of the situation,” Bishop Taylor said. “Taking abundant life — good wine — and pouring it out on the ground. … casting a long shadow on the prospects for joy in the life of the mother and everyone else responsible for the death. Indeed, something dies inside with the death of a child.”
With the Cathedral packed to capacity, about 100 parishioners found seating in an overflow room in McDonald Hall. A streaming of the Mass for Life was planned, but the connection was lost and Mass-goers watched a recorded Mass from Father Mike Schmitz on YouTube.
After Mass, Catholics enjoyed a complimentary taco lunch and marched to the State Capitol to hear a prayer from Father Mauricio Carrasco, director of spiritual formation for the House of Formation, and featured speaker Lauren Eden.

“Arkansas was recently recognized in the media as the most pro-life state in the nation for the fifth year in a row,” Arkansas Right to Life president Wayne Mays told marchers gathered at the Capitol. “… That’s us praying and talking to the Father and saying, ‘Clear our path, Lord. Help us do the things we need to do to save those unborn lives.’”
“Last year, we asked for your help to go to work against any effort to change the Arkansas Constitution to end the legal protections for mothers and their unborn children, and you did come to our aid,” Mays said. “Decline to sign was a great success, and we were able to keep that item off the ballot. … You showed up, and you showed your love for life. … Our work is not yet done. They will be back stronger. And so will we.”
Eden then addressed the crowd gathered at the Capitol steps.

At 21, she discovered that she had survived a second-trimester dilation and evacuation (D&E) abortion. Her mother, then a student at the University of Arkansas, traveled to four different abortion clinics in Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas, attempting to abort Eden, but her efforts were thwarted at each appointment. Eden’s father prayed for a miracle to save his child and convinced Eden’s mother to keep the baby when she began having second thoughts after the first half of the abortion procedure.
This revelation, along with the series of miraculous events that saved her life, affirmed that God had a special purpose for her.
Though Eden felt called to share her story, she waited until her mother was ready. She spent 19 years in ministry, working with three churches in the Atlanta area. In 2023, with her mother’s support, she began sharing her story publicly.
“When I was 21 years old, I was really struggling with God’s plan for my life, and in a miraculous way, God encouraged my mom to tell me my story,” Eden said. “What a humbling opportunity for me to realize that God’s hand had been at work in my life from the very beginning, and I knew that God was calling me to share my story, to be a voice for those who cannot be a voice for themselves … I stand here today to tell you that our God answers prayer. Our God is a God of miracles, and every single one of your lives is a miracle … he has a purpose, and he has a plan for every single life that he creates. … We are not an accident. So keep the faith; keep running the race.”

State Sen. Kim Hammer announced that the state government was installing a monument to the unborn on Capitol grounds.
“Because of the courage of the legislature and because of the courage of our governor, we will be the first state in the Union to have a monument to the unborn children of the state of Arkansas,” he said. “This monument will be placed behind the Capitol building in a very prominent place, behind the Ten Commandments and right under the shadow of the Arkansas State Supreme Court …”
The monument will cost $750,000.
“You might say, ‘That’s a lot of money,’ but when you honor 250,000 lives, it’s a small amount of money, considering what it stands for,” Hammer said. “… We can be the first state to build a beautiful monument to the beautiful lives that were taken through the tragedy of abortion.”

Father Carrasco closed the service with a prayer, calling those in attendance to action.
“Let’s take up the invitation to keep the faith, knowing that God does answer our prayers,” he said.