(Photo by Mario Diaz)

Banal minds find it hard to grasp why I serve as legal counsel for Concerned Women for America (CWA). For all their boasting about acceptance, inclusion, and equality, many liberal elites especially have a hard time seeing a man working for a women’s organization. Well, I do, proudly. Deal with it.

I once went with my family to pray in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic as part of a 40 Days for Life prayer gathering when the organizer asked me to pray and introduced me as working for CWA. I prayed for the babies and the mothers inside the clinic. I prayed for the workers and their families. I also prayed for our community and the country to come to terms with the darkness of abortion. As I finished, a man who was standing at the clinic supporting Planned Parenthood came up to me and asked, with a smirk on his face, “So, you represent concerned women?”

Now, you have to understand, I’ve been with CWA for 17 years now, so I’ve heard this a few times. If someone is genuinely curious, having never thought about it, it is worth the time to talk to them about what I do. But this man, of course, did not fit the bill. He simply thought he was being clever for his pals who were behind him laughing.

I decided to try a different approach to see if I could get through to him that day. I responded, “Yes sir, this is Mia, and this is Cara—nine and six.” As I spoke, I brought my two beautiful daughters closer to me. They stood there smiling while holding their pro-life signs and resting on both my legs. To my surprise, it seemed to work. Before I could introduce my pregnant wife and son, the laughs in Planned Parenthood’s gallery had subsided, and the man, smirk gone, turned around and silently walked back to his base.

I think he, perhaps a father himself, understood what I was conveying. I stood there for my daughters. But the pro-life cause goes beyond that. It is beyond a selfish pursuit. I also stood there for his daughters, if he had any. I stood there for future generations to do and be better than us. I stood there for my wife and my sons, yes, but it is so much more.

One of my sons stood there holding a sign too. The other was hanging out in mom’s belly still— both equally valuable at different stages of life. My oldest boy has autism. I was recently made aware of the granting of a patent for a method of detecting autism using DNA.

“The method, invented by David Michael Margulies and Mark Firman Bear of Massachusetts, involves taking a tissue or body sample from a subject and then conducting a test to identify variant sequences in the subject’s genetic code, which may signify ‘the presence or an increased risk of developing autism spectrum disorders.’ Testing can be done on children and fetuses, according to the patent.”

My son was all I could think of after reading that – and all the other beautiful boys, just like him around the world. When you consider how the tests for Down syndrome are being used, one can only imagine the nightmare that might be unleashed when this test is combined with abortion. Who will sound the alarm against this? Will we rationalize it as another simple choice? Will it be celebrated in the media as a way to “eradicate” autism?

Before you tell me, “It’ll never happen.” Consider: I’m old. I have four kids. Do you know how many, “It’ll never happen,” statements I have lived through?

That’s why this March for Life I’ll be marching with my son in mind. We must turn the tide on this issue. We cannot keep going down the road of utilitarianism, when it comes to human life. Every life at every stage is valuable as created in the image of God.

Every march is different. Each one has a theme. This year’s theme, “Love Saves Lives,” is especially powerful and encapsulates why I’ll be marching. I love my son. I love him just as he is. But love goes beyond that—beyond him.

I’ll be marching for your son, too. I hope you join me.

Mario Díaz, Esq., serves as Concerned Women for America's (CWA) Legal Counsel and leads CWA's Legal Studies Department. Mr. Diaz is a Constitutional Law scholar who focuses on cases and legislation dealing with CWA's core issues: religious liberty, sanctity of human life, defense of the family, sexual exploitation, education, national sovereignty, and support for Israel.

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