She arrived at the Supreme Court in the afternoon and stayed until dark — celebrating with other pro-lifers.
“There was an overwhelming joy on the pro-life side: Our prayers had been answered! People who had been fighting for this their whole lives were there with tears in their eyes, and all the young people had a renewed vigor,” she said.
Dudzik returned to the Supreme Court the following day for the celebration rally where she said the atmosphere had “an air of sobriety.”
“The ecstatic feeling had worn off a bit and we realized that now this would be a tough issue fought at the federal level and state by state. The fight had only just begun.”
After the overturn of Roe, Dudzik began working with the pro-life organization Live Action, where she attends events across the country spreading the pro-life message and educating people on the truth about abortion. She also became a wife and mother to a baby girl, whom, she said, has given her more motivation to do pro-life work.
“From the second I saw the positive pregnancy test, working in the pro-life movement has become even more personal and close to my heart,” the 22-year-old shared. “Standing in front of the Supreme Court this year after the National March for Life and realizing that in D.C. I could easily kill my 23-week-old baby legally, it brought me to tears.”
She added: “Then, when my little baby girl was born, my vigor for spreading the message of a culture of life grew even more. Children are the greatest blessing — now I know this firsthand. My baby isn’t inhibiting me at all, squashing my dreams, or making my life miserable: She’s actually propelling me to do more to raise awareness and spread a culture of life.”
As for Deretich, soon after the overturn of Roe she took on a new role with Students for Life of America, becoming the government affairs coordinator at the federal level.
Her main focus now consists of “making sure that even the very pro-life senators and Congress members know that the fight is not over because a lot of them wash their hands like, ‘We’re done now. Roe is overturned,’” she explained, adding: “We still have to talk about it. We still have to take actions on it and the fight is not over. It’s not just a state issue.”
Both Deretich and Dudzik agree there have been many wins since the overturning of Roe v. Wade, including 14 states enacting laws that ban abortion and offer full protection of human life. However, they said there is still much work to be done, in particular this November when several states — including Florida, Colorado, and South Dakota — will be voting on ballot initiatives regarding abortion.
(Story continues below)
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Francesca is the Social Media Manager for Catholic News Agency. She received her degree in Communications with an emphasis in Digital Media from the University of Colorado – Denver.
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