40 Days for Life, Spring 2022: links to three New Hampshire campaigns

40 Days for Life is a twice-yearly campaign of prayer, fasting, and community outreach aimed at ending abortion and building a culture of life. The official dates of the Spring 2022 campaign are March 2 to April 10, and three campaigns will take place in New Hampshire. I’ve linked below to each campaign’s web page for your convenience. That’s where you can sign up for prayer vigil hours outside an abortion facility. You can also sign up for a specific campaign’s email updates.

The national 40 Days for Life website will tell you more about the campaigns, including the commitment by each participant to peaceful, prayerful action. You can search this blog for “40 Days for Life” for coverage of 40DFL campaigns in New Hampshire going back to 2014.

Concord

The opening event for the campaign will be a midnight prayer vigil, the very first hour of March 2 (or late evening on March 1, depending on how you see the clock). Join the Knights of Columbus as they open the first prayer vigil hour at the public sidewalk in front of the Equality Center at 38 S. Main St., downtown Concord, New Hampshire..

40daysforlife.com/concord, concord40dfl@gmail.com, Facebook.com/concord40daysforlife

Greenland

The kickoff rally for the Seacoast-area campaign will be Sunday, February 27, at 2 p.m. on the sidewalk in front of the Lovering Health Center at 559 Portsmouth Ave., Greenland, New Hampshire. Join them for prayers, speakers, and fellowship.

40daysforlife.com/greenland, deb40days@yahoo.com, Facebook.com/40daysforlifegreenland

Manchester

While Manchester’s prayer vigil will take place outside the Planned Parenthood office on Pennacook Street in Manchester beginning on March 2, the kickoff rally will be in Derry on Sunday, February 27 at 2 p.m. Two Student for Life speakers will be featured at the event at St. Thomas Aquinas church hall at 26 Crystal Ave. in Derry.

40daysforlife.com/manchester, 40daysforlifemanchester@gmail.com, Facebook.com/4Odaysforlife

UPDATED: revised agenda for 2022 New Hampshire March for Life January 15

UPDATED and edited 1/14/22 with announcement from New Hampshire Right to Life:

“Schedule Change for NH March for Life on Sat, January 15!! Due to the extreme cold [forecast], we will meet DIRECTLY at Christ the King Parish Hall (72 S Main St, Concord, NH) at 11:30 AM, rather than meeting and marching from the State House. The memorial service at the Concord Landfill at 9 am and the 10 am Mass will continue as planned.”

Below is a portion of my original post about the 2022 March in Concord.

The annual New Hampshire March for Life will take place in Concord on Saturday, January 15. As usual, the day will feature multiple events. Full details are on the New Hampshire Right to Life website, nhrtl.org.

I have no quarrel with anyone who chooses to avoid crowds as pandemic (perhaps now endemic?) Covid persists. On the other hand, I masked up to attend a life-issue outdoor rally outside the U.S. Supreme Court a month ago, amid about 2000 people. Whether one attends a march or not, there is ample pro-life work to be done aside from public witness.

Life-issue bills: NH Senate to vote on committee recommendations this week

The New Hampshire Senate will meet Thursday, May 27 at 10 a.m. to consider Judiciary Committee recommendations on two life-issue bills.

HB 625, Fetal Life Protection Act

The Judiciary Committee voted 3-2 along party lines (GOP majority) to recommend Ought to Pass with Amendment on HB 625, concerning late-term abortions.

The committee – including Sen. William Gannon – did not recommend adding an exception for eugenic abortion. (See this blog’s earlier report on the bill.) Cornerstone Action, which favors HB 625, posted a report worth reading in full, outlining the committee’s actions and giving a call to action.

From the Cornerstone message: “Contact your Senator now and ask him or her to support a floor amendment adopting—at minimum—the severability and ‘physician requirement’ sections of the Birdsell amendment. These changes are critical to protecting the bill [HB 625], both in court and against a possible veto.“

HB 233, Born-Alive Infant Protection

A born-alive infant protection bill will not pass the year, with the Senate Judiciary Committee voting to re-refer HB 233.

Re-referral is the Senate’s version of what the House calls “retaining” a bill. The procedure keeps a bill in committee for the remainder of the calendar year, preventing a full-Senate vote until 2022.

The Senate’s May 27 session will be streamed online at http://sg001-harmony.sliq.net/00286/Harmony/en/View/Calendar/20210527/-1. This link will not be live until the session begins.

40 Days for Life begins today

Four New Hampshire locations are sites for 40 Days for Life campaigns beginning Ash Wednesday, February 17, lasting until Sunday, March 28. Each campaign features peaceful pro-life witness outside abortion facilities, along with prayer, fasting, and community outreach.

For more information about each campaign and about the global 40 Days for Life project, go to these links. Note that each campaign has its own vigil calendar, where volunteers can sign up. Each campaign also has its own special events schedule.

• Concord: 40daysforlife.com/concord, concord40dfl@gmail.com, Facebook @concord40daysforlife
• Greenland: 40daysforlife.com/greenland, deb40days@yahoo.com, Facebook @40daysforlifegreenland
• Keene: 40daysforlife.com/keene, keene40daysforlife@outlook.com, Facebook @40-days-for-life-keene
• Manchester: 40daysforlife.com/manchester, 40daysforlifemanchester@gmail.com, Facebook @4Odaysforlife

Statement of Peace

The 40DFL Statement of Peace, signed by all participants, is an integral part of the campaign. Among the commitments: I will only pursue peaceful, law-abiding solutions to the violence of abortion when volunteering with the 40 Days for Life campaign…I understand that breaking the law or acting in a violent or harmful manner immediately and completely disassociates me from the 40 Days for Life campaign.

What 40DFL is and isn’t

40 Days for Life aims to end abortion locally through prayer and fasting, community outreach, and – in its most visible work – peaceful vigil outside abortion facilities.

Civil disobedience is not part of 40 Days for Life. It’s about witness, not protest.

Also, it’s not about ignoring COVID. Volunteers are directed to observe appropriate protocols including social distancing. A volunteer who becomes ill or is exposed to COVID is expected to stay home rather than attend the vigil.

Anyone whose health concerns make participation in group events inadvisable can pray and fast from home, joining in spirit those who are keeping vigil on the sidewalks. Remote witness sounds like a contradiction in terms to anyone unfamiliar with the contemplative tradition, but that’s what some of us have done in COVID time. Has this weakened 40DFL? Hardly. This campaign is taking place in 567 locations around the world, making it the largest spring campaign since 40DFL began in 2007.

Virtual March for Life and Related Events

In lieu of the usual March for Life in Washington this year, the national March for Life team has scheduled several online events. Other groups whose gatherings usually coincide with the March are doing likewise. Some require registration for online viewing. All times listed are Eastern Standard Time.

March for Life Education & Defense Fund

Thursday, January 28: Capitol Hill 101. A free seminar about lobbying elected representatives at federal, state, and local levels. At the time of this post, openings were still available for viewings at noon and 5 p.m. Register here.

Friday, January 29, noon: Virtual March for Life Rally. The rally will be live-streamed. RSVP for a link to the coverage.

Friday, January 29, 7 p.m.: Rose Dinner Gala, with keynote speaker Tim Tebow. Fix your own dinner, & enjoy the speakers online. Tickets are $25.

Alternatives to the “side rallies”

During my last three trips to the national March for Life, I skipped the main rally in favor of the New Wave Feminists gathering in front of the Air and Space Museum. I meet people I don’t ordinarily hear from, who have experiences very different from mine. All we have in common is that we’re pro-life human beings. I’ll miss them this year. I’m guessing – but this isn’t a sure thing – that NWF and some other groups will have something going on via Facebook at midday on the 29th. Pages: New Wave Feminists, Democrats for Life of America, Rehumanize International, Secular Pro-Life.

Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life

This annual event is the nation’s largest student-run pro-life event, thanks to the work of students at Georgetown University in Washington. It will take place online via Zoom on Saturday, January 30 with keynote speaker Aimee Murphy of Rehumanize International. Panelists include Reggie Littlejohn of Women’s Rights Without Frontiers and Sister Deidre Byrne, among other distinguished activists.

Registration for the Zoom conference costs $10. Best deal you’ll find all day.

Be sure to check out the Conference’s Facebook page, which already has some speakers’ videos posted.

I wrote about the 2018 O’Connor conference with some impressions of the day.

National Review Institute: Reframing End-of-Life Care During COVID

Wednesday, January 27 at 6 p.m., the National Review Institute and the Catholic Information Center will host an online panel discussion of what moderator Kathryn Jean Lopez calls “the need for a revolution of love in end-of-life care.” For more information and registration (free) go to the event page at cicdc.org.

40 Days for Life Sign-Up Day

The next 40 Days for Life campaign begins on February 17. National 40DFL leadership is observing the virtual March for Life by declaring January 29 “Sign-Up Day” and encouraging people to spend part of the day in peaceful witness outside an abortion facility.

New Hampshire will have campaigns in four locations: Manchester, Concord, Greenland, and Keene. For more information, go to 40daysforlife.com and search for the location nearest you.