www.theleaven.com | Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas | Vol. 32, No. 26 february 11, 2011
Who is
on the front lines of the pro-life movement? You might be surprised!
T
By Kara Hansen Leaven reporter
Leaven photo by Susan McSpadden
Margie Livingston, above, a teacher at Curé of Ars School in Leawood, has been educating her students about life issues for almost 20 years. At the annual Rally for Life at the Capitol in Topeka (top photo), Livingston was interviewed by local television news reporter Jenna Troum, from KSNT-TV.
OPEKA – It wasn’t the January weather that sent a chill through Nancy Keenan. It was a vision of the future. Keenan, president of the NARAL ProChoice America, was waiting for a train at Union Station in Washington, D.C., in 2010. When the train pulled in, she witnessed a crowd pour out of the coaches — hordes of prolife youth on their way to the 37th annual March for Life. “I just thought, ‘My gosh, they are so young,’” Keenan said in an April 16, 2010, Newsweek magazine article. “There are so many of them, and they are so young.” While pro-abortion ranks are filled with what Keenan called “the postmenopausal militia,” the front lines of the pro-life movement are being swelled by passionate youths. And for that you can thank people like Margie Livingston. Livingston, a veteran teacher at Curé of Ars School in Leawood, has been educating her students about the life issues for almost 20 years. Recently, she had the opportunity to school a Topeka television reporter on the topic, too. Livingston was in Topeka on Jan. 21 for the annual Rally for Life, sponsored by Kansans for Life. Along with many other participants, Livingston attended Mass at the Topeka Performing Arts Center, and then walked to the Capitol as part of the rally. When she arrived there, Livingston was approached by Topeka television news reporter Jenna Troum, from KSNT-TV. Troum asked for an interview. “I was not really sure about it, but I said OK,” said Livingston. “I am very passionate about life issues, but when she began interviewing me, a calmness came over me that is not always there.” Livingston said the reporter started with the observation that much of the rally crowd was very young — students on field trips, primarily. Clearly, the reporter began with a presupposition — that pro-life youths were there simply for a day of officially sanctioned hooky. “She said, ‘It appears to me the children here far outnumber the adults,’” said Livingston. “I responded, ‘I think there are a lot of schools that have come and I think it’s great the pro-life movement is a youth movement too.’” That quote from Livingston was the only one
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