Photo by Ryan Ottney | Daily Times F

Fr. Adam Streitenberger, of St. Mary Catholic Church, led participants of the Scioto County March for Life in prayer on the steps of the Scioto County Courthouse Saturday.

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Ryan Scott Ottney

PDT Staff Writer

Supporters of Scioto County Right to Life marched together through Portsmouth Saturday with Ohio Sen. Joe Ueker and Rep. Terry Johnson to demonstrate their opposition to abortion. This year marks the 40th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court case, Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States.

March Spokesperson Angela Duduit said that since Roe v. Wade in 1973, there have been 54.5 million abortions performed in the United States. In Ohio, 2011 saw the lowest number of abortions in state history with 24,764.

“We’re just trying to draw attention to the unborn child, and it’s value and that it’s a life. There was a lot of people upset about what happened at Newtown, and to us there’s no difference between that and what’s happened to the unborn children, and we’d like for people to be upset about the fact that unborn children are being murdered everyday as well,” she said.

The Third Annual Scioto County Right to Life’s March for Life assembled Saturday at the Holy Redeemer Activity Center in Portsmouth and stepped off at 1 p.m., carrying signs that read “Abortion Kills Children” to the steps of the Scioto County Courthouse where Fr. Adam Streitenberger, of St. Mary Catholic Church in Portsmouth, led them in prayer. Then they marched back to the Activity Center for a performance by the Clay High School Chorus, and comments by Uecker and Johnson.

“I think anytime we can show our support for the innocent unborn, the most vulnerable of our society, this is a good thing. This is the best thing we can be doing with our Saturday. In light of the times being around the commemoration of Roe v. Wade, this is what people should be doing,” Uecker said.

Johnson said that as a physician, he understands the importance of human life and has supported every pro-life legislation that came before the Ohio House of Representatives.

“It’s a controversial issue. A lot of our patients disagree. But that’s not a good reason to back away from your principles,” Johnson said.

Duduit called the 129th Ohio General Assembly, of last year, one of the most pro-life assemblies ever.

“There was a particular piece of legislation that banned late-term abortions after 20-weeks in Ohio and Sen. Uecker, who was a representative at that time, actually sponsored that legislation and Rep. Johnson co-sponsored it. There’s been a lot of success over the last couple of years with pro-life legislation.”

Thirty-six members of Scioto County Right to Life joined half-a-million people at the 40th Annual National March for Life in Washington D.C. on Friday. This was the seventh time the local group has attended the national march. Fr. Streitenberger said there were a lot of young people at the national march.

“It’s a sign that sort of the message of this year is that this is now the next generation’s cause. Sort of a handing over for our young people to lead in this crusade to end abortion,” Fr. Streitenberger said.

Johnson said the community has a significant pro-life population, but he is disappointed that very few people actually show up to support the Scioto County march.

“We don’t have a lot of people that turn out each year, but we usually do have a lot of support from the area churches and people come out during the year to work at our fair booth at the county fair,” Duduit said. “It doesn’t garner a ton of support, but we still want to use it to highlight our issues and bring attention to it.”

More information about Scioto County Right to Life can be found online at www.sciotolife.org, and on Facebook.

Ryan Scott Ottney can be reached at 740-353-3101, ext. 287, or rottney@civitasmedia.com.