By Voice staff

The annual Walk for Life West Coast will begin at 11 a.m. Jan. 24 at Justin Herman Plaza on Market Street in San Francisco. The three-hour event will conclude at Marina Greens where there will be a Silent No More gathering and an Info Faire.

Prior to the beginning of the walk, an 8 a.m. Mass will be celebrated at St. Mary’s Cathedral in San Francisco.

Last year’s Walk for Life drew over 25,000 supporters to rally and proclaim that “Women Deserve Better than Abortion.”

The first Walk was organized in 2005 by Bay Area residents Eva Muntean and Dolores Meehan, both volunteers at a non-profit care home in Pacifica for HIV/AIDS patients. Muntean and Meehan decided to organize the Walk for Life in San Francisco to remind pro-choice women with problem pregnancies that there are options besides abortion.

The featured speakers at the beginning of this year’s rally will be:

Diana Nagy, a Bay Area pro-life vocalist and composer whose debut CD is dedicated to “The Journey of Life.” Nagy was a member of the San Francisco Chamber Choir when it sang for Pope John Paul II in Candlestick Park several years ago.

Kerri Caviezel, a counselor at the Pregnancy Counseling Center in Mission Hills, California. She and her husband, actor Jim Caviezel who played Jesus in Mel Gibson’s movie, “The Passion of Christ,” have adopted two disabled children.

The Rev. Clenard Childress, founder of the pro-life website, Blackgenocide.org, an outreach to the African American community.

Karen Shablin, president of Feminists for Life and a former pro-choice proponent who at one time headed up a state Medicaid agency.

Father Frank Pavone, founder of Priests for Life, a national organization which embraces non-violence and equal rights for all, including the unborn.

This year’s walk will be preceded by two pro-life events in Oakland on Jan. 23.

At noon the second annual Standing Up 4Life Walk will take place at Oakland City Hall at One Frank H. Ogawa Plaza with the Rev. Clenard Childress speaking.

At 7:30 p.m. there will be a special East Bay Memorial Service for abortion victims at Shiloh Christian Fellowship Church, 3295 School Street. Bishop Allen Vigneron and Shiloh senior pastor Patrick Kiteley will speak.

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