.....We think it is fitting that we will walk for the most fundamental rights on the day our nation commemorates this civil rights great. What are those rights? They are the right to life and the equal civil rights of all human beings at every age and stage......

Eva Muntean, CATHOLIC EXCHANGE, JAN. 11, 2008

Gianna Jessen is the face of abortion. Literally. Gianna's biological mother underwent a saline abortion and Gianna survived.

Dr. Alveda King is also the face of abortion. The niece of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Alveda is the mother of eight children, but two of those children perished in abortions. Alveda walks for the women and for the babies damaged each day by the lie of the abortion solution.

Both women will walk and speak this year at the Walk for Life West Coast. http://www.walkforlifewc.com/ Each year it is held on the Saturday closest to the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade ruling legalizing abortion nationwide. This year the Walk will be held on Saturday, January 19, the weekend closest to the January 15th birthday of slain civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

We think it is fitting that we will walk for the most fundamental rights on the day our nation commemorates this civil rights great. What are those rights? They are the right to life and the equal civil rights of all human beings at every age and stage.

"I was aborted and I didn't die," said Gianna, who has cerebral palsy because of her 17-year-old biological mother's abortion. "We need to get back to valuing human beings based on their intrinsic value rather than on whether or not they fit into our plans or serve our purpose."

Abortion is widely promoted as a "solution" to some of the challenges women face in modern society. But abortion pits women against their children. It is a no-win situation, in which both mother and child lose. How often is a young college girl advised by her counselor to abort? "This isn't the right time, you won't be able to finish your education." How often have you heard someone tell a mother of one or two "You're done now aren't you?" Why? Why do we assume that pregnancy, and bringing another life into the world, is a bad thing, an inconvenience?

We walk to change our society's perception of pregnancy, of parenting, of what we need to be happy.

We also walk in solidarity with all the women who have experienced abortion. They are our friends, our sisters, our neighbors, even our mothers. And they are the fathers of these lost children who are hurt also. We walk so they will find healing. That is why the banner we hold in the front of our Walk declares "Abortion Hurts Women."

When a small group of us got together to organize the Walk for Life West Coast in the spring of 2003, we just wanted to speak up in a public way for life. We all knew women who had suffered abortion, and we knew it was no solution. We all shared a strong pro-woman, pro-life ethic. We hoped for a turnout of at least two thousand. But if just one hundred people showed up and even one woman was touched by our Walk, we felt that would have been enough. The first year, despite tremendous opposition from San Francisco's mayor and the entire board of supervisors, as well as fierce counter-demonstrators from NARAL Pro-Choice California and Planned Parenthood, close to 10,000 people walked. We couldn't believe it!

Since the Walk launched on January 22, 2004, it has grown each year, with more than 20,000 people walking along the San Francisco waterfront last year.

We believe the increasing turnout for the Walk is a sign that more and more people recognize that abortion is no solution. We believe this is a sign that more and more people realize that the solution is to transform our society into one that welcomes pregnancy and supports parenthood and our next generation.

By publicly walking in support of women and of life, we make it much harder to ignore the growing groundswell of people who believe abortion is no solution.

Please join us to change our society to one that can no longer ignore the damage that abortion causes. Come to publicly show that even in San Francisco, one of the most pro-choice cities in the country, life has a voice.

Be a part of this exciting event to show that life is the choice!

Join us on January 19th at 11:00 a.m. on the lawn of Justin Herman Plaza at the foot of San Francisco's Market Street to walk for the most fundamental civil right, the inalienable right to life. www.walkforlifewc.com.

Eva Muntean is the co-founder of Walk For Life West Coast.