At the one-year anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s historic decision overturning Roe v. Wade, there is much positive news to report, however a great amount of work still remains in promoting a culture of life – efforts that will shift toward the state legislatures – according to a national pro-life leader.

For a June 20 talk at St. John Neumann Church, Gaithersburg, Maryland nearly 150 parishioners gathered at the parish to listen to Jeanne Mancini, president of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, describe last year’s high court ruling, a pro-life victory she said she didn’t expect to witness in her lifetime, as well as state laws – both good and bad – passed in the wake of last summer’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

“(The end of Roe v. Wade) was in large part due to your prayers, work and sacrifices,” said Mancini.

Although the ensuing backlash on the part of pro-abortion activists took her by surprise, Mancini told the audience that the question of abortion has now returned to the American people through their elected representatives. In the past few years, 25 states have enacted laws offering greater protections for unborn children. This year, an estimated 60,000 babies have been saved from abortion due to recent legislation restricting abortion, Mancini said.

She also spoke of states that are now adopting funding policies for pre-natal care and other outlets which offer positive alternatives to abortion. The number of abortion clinics nationwide has shrunk to 700, while maternity homes and pregnancy aid resource centers have grown to more than 3,000 throughout the United States.

On the negative side, Mancini pointed out that the legislatures of several states, such as Michigan and California, have exceeded Roe and further enshrined abortion in the state constitutions and statutes. Abortion backers in Ohio, which Mancini describes as a pro-life state with a current ban on abortion after six-weeks’ gestation, are now attempting to gather signatures for a ballot initiative in November that would seek to overturn the state’s heartbeat law.

For faithful Catholics who are discouraged by these recent setbacks at the state level, Mancini stressed the importance of their continued efforts in the pro-life movement.

“Changing hearts and minds is the most important thing. It’s tough, but not impossible,” she said. “Your call in building a culture of life – the single most important thing you can do – is to pray. Nothing is more important. It’s a game changer.”

Here in The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington, Mancini called on attendees to be “salt and light” and joyful witnesses to the truth in the public square. She said the longstanding annual March for Life, the headline event of Mancini’s organization, will continue to take place in late January as an historic reminder and an opportunity for people of all ages to continue to stand up for life. Although, she said it’s likely there will be more similar marches in the state capitals from now on around the country.

Mancini encouraged the audience to look to the example of heroic virtue of St. Gianna Beretta Molla, an Italian pediatrician who died in 1962 a week following the birth of her fourth child after being diagnosed during the pregnancy with a life-threatening medical condition. She refused an abortion, thus sparing the life of her child, but sacrificing her own instead. St. Gianna is the patron saint of doctors, mothers and pre-born children.

“There is a quote from St. Gianna, ‘Our body is a cenacle, a monstrance: through its crystal the world should see God’…. Let the world and Maryland see that,” said Mancini.