This Sunday, declared as Pro-life Sunday, is a way of focusing on the value of each and every human life since the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decisions Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, which legalized abortion in every state for any reason through all nine months of pregnancy. It was a turning point in women's reproductive rights and has remained a hot-button issue within United States politics since its legalization.

The Roe v. Wade decision held that a woman, with her doctor, could choose abortion in earlier months of pregnancy without legal restriction, based primarily on the right to privacy. The case originated in 1970 as a suit by Jane Doe, a single, pregnant Texan, against Henry Wade, a Texas state official who enforced anti-abortion laws. The Court found for Doe, primarily based on privacy rights as outlined in the 9th and 14th Amendments. The decision was 7–2, with the majority opinion written by Justice Harry A. Blackmun.

This decision became so historic that the pro-life advocates started the March for Life movement. Since then, every year, many pilgrims and pro-lifers across the United States travel to Washington, DC to rally, pray and give witness to the truth concerning the greatest human rights violation of our time.

During the time of President Ronald Reagan, a proclamation was issued creating the first National Sanctity of Human Life Day in January 1984, and it included these words:

" We have been given the precious gift of human life, made more precious still by our births in or pilgrimages to a land of freedom. It is fitting, then, on the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in Roe v. Wade that struck down State anti-abortion laws, that we reflect anew on these blessings, and on our corresponding responsibility to guard with care the lives and freedoms of even the weakest of our fellow human beings."

As we commemorate this historic event, let us be promoters and defenders of life. Let us value the dignity and sanctity of every human life.

January 22nd has been declared as a day of prayer for the legal protection of unborn children.

Let us offer this prayer: God our Creator, we give thanks to you, who alone have the power to impart the breath of life as you form each of us in our mother's womb; grant, we pray, that we, whom you have made stewards of creation, may remain faithful to this sacred trust and constant in safeguarding the dignity of every human life. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen