Annual Good Friday nationwide prayer vigil for victims of abortion continues post-Roe

By Kate Scanlon, OSV News

(OSV News) -- An annual Good Friday pro-life prayer vigil that takes place in locations across the country will continue post-Roe, organizers said.

The U.S. Supreme Court's June ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

But the Pro-Life Action League, which organizes an annual "Way of the Cross for Victims of Abortion," said it will continue to memorialize the unborn victims of Roe v. Wade, as well as those that took place following that ruling.

The Chicago-based group said it is planning prayer vigils at nearly 100 abortion facilities in 29 states, which will include prayers for "all those who have been involved in abortion in any way."

"Over 60 million of our most vulnerable brothers and sisters violently lost their lives under the extreme abortion regime imposed by Roe v. Wade," Eric Scheidler, the group's executive director, said in a statement. "On Good Friday, we pray in thanksgiving for the thousands of lives that have been saved since states began protecting children in the womb. And we mourn for those who continue to be killed in states that do not value their precious lives."

After the Supreme Court reversed its previous precedent in Roe, lawmakers in several states moved to either restrict or expand access to abortion. The prayer vigil events organized by the Pro-Life Action League will take place in both red and blue states, including several facilities in Florida, where earlier in April, state legislators advanced a bill to ban abortions after six weeks.

Scheidler said, "there's no better day to remember the victims of abortion than Good Friday, when we remember the suffering and execution of Jesus Christ, an innocent man who preached the value of every single human life."

The group said it has coordinated this event nationwide since 2014.