The St Rose of Lima Pro-Life Pro-Family Committee marched on January 20 in protest of abortion. It was the second annual event of its kind in Newtown.

The local march emulated the March for Life event in Washington, D.C., happening on the same day. March for Life has occurred every year since 1974 to protest the anniversary of Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision that declared access to an abortion a constitutional right.

After the conclusion of Mass at St Rose midday Friday, local participants walked from their church at 40 Church Hill Road to the Main Street flagpole, in prayer. This year the weather was unfavorable, but the cold did not stop the group.

“It’s beautiful that even in the rain, we stand up for our beliefs,” Queta Donovan, the organizer of the event, said about the group’s endeavor. “We want to love both: the woman, the child. The family,” she continued.

Donovan’s husband Kevin added that also seeing the “ranges of ages” was beautiful, as the gathering was attended by adults and children who tagged along, including his and his wife’s four grandchildren. Generations of the Donovan family were also part of the group that participated in last year's march along the same route.

Reverend Tom Davis of St Ann Melkite Catholic Church in Danbury, who joined the group, speculated that June 24 may be the new, warmer date for further marches since Dobbs vs Jackson Women’s Health last year overturned Roe v Wade, overturning the constitutional right to abortion.

For Davis, that decision marks a potentially positive tonal shift in the tradition of the marches.

“Instead of against something, it’s in favor of something,” he said, adding he was pleased that future marches may support a Supreme Court decision and not be in protest of one.

According to Davis, the St Rose of Lima Pro-Life Pro-Family Committee represents “just the concept of family.”

“It is in families that we can destroy loneliness,” he added.

Noelle Veillette can be reached at noelle@thebee.com.