SW News: Catholic believers will gather outside the Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Washington DC at 9 am local time on October 12 for prayer. The event is being held to commemorate the third anniversary of the Marian Blue Wave rosary campaign started by the American Life League pro-life outfit.

According to Katie Brown, director of the Marian Blue Wave, “The national debate over abortion has escalated since the United States Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.” She added that it is more important than ever for Catholics and other Christians to wage this battle over the evil of abortion with the power of God and the intercession of His Blessed Mother.

Those who are part of the Marian Blue Wave take a pledge to say a weekly rosary with the intention of ending all types of abortions and closing down all Planned Parenthood facilities in the US. It also wants the closure of other abortion clinics in the country. According to Brown, “The Marian Blue Wave focuses on the true evil behind abortion and rallies people together to fight that evil with our most powerful weapon: the rosary.”

The prayer initiative has the support of believers in 50 states and almost all dioceses. Believers in 31 other countries are also part of the Marian Blue Wave. As many as 10,000 individuals are part of the initiative and more than 1.5 million rosaries have been said to end abortion and shut down Planned Parenthood centers.

Every month, the prayers target one Planned Parenthood facility in the United States. “We pray that God will bring about the closing of these Planned Parenthood facilities. We pray for the preborn babies whose lives are ended at these facilities. And we pray for the protection of teenagers who are lured into these facilities and ushered into lives of sexual sin,” said Brown.

According to Brown, as many as 67 Planned Parenthood facilities have been closed since the inception of the Marian Blue Wave in October 2019. It owes its origin to the invitation of Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler in Texas to all Catholics to refocus on the gift of the rosary “and the call to prayer that the Blessed Virgin Mary has given us so many times”.

Since 1979, six years after abortion was legalized in America, the American Life League has been involved in protecting human lives from the moment of conception until natural death.