Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children | January 22, 2018

The General Instruction of the Roman Missal designates January 22nd each year as a particular day of prayer and penance, called the "Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children". It states: "In all the Dioceses of the United States of America, January 22 shall be observed as a particular day of prayer for the full restoration of the legal guarantee of the right to life and of penance for violations to the dignity of the human person committed through acts of abortion."

America needs no words from me to see how your decision in Roe v. Wade has deformed a great nation. The so-called right to abortion has pitted mothers against their children and women against men. It has sown violence and discord at the heart of the most intimate human relationships. It has portrayed the child as...an intrusion. 

— St. Teresa of Calcutta

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Prayer of Blessing Upon the Unborn Child

God, author of all life,

bless, we pray, this unborn child;

give constant protection

and grant a healthy birth

that is the sign of our rebirth one day

into the eternal rejoicing of heaven.

We ask this in Christ's name. Amen.

While our efforts to change hearts, minds and laws through courageous public witness are essential to ending abortion, our most powerful weapon is prayer. Pope Benedict XVI explains the responsibility of lawmakers: "Children truly are the family's greatest treasure and most precious good. Consequently, everyone must be helped to become aware of the intrinsic evil of the crime of abortion. In attacking human life in its very first stages, it is also an aggression against society itself. Politicians and legislators, therefore, as servants of the common good, are duty bound to defend the fundamental right to life, the fruit of God's love." We pray that our fellow citizens, and our leaders, may one day be moved to protect the pre-born, the weak, the sick, the vulnerable and the unwanted.