SALT LAKE CITY - Hundreds of marches happened around the country Saturday, and Utah’s 'March for Life' and rally at the State Capitol drew hundreds of participants.
One of those participants shared her reason for attending.
“I got a registered letter on my doorstep one day,” said Jennifer Arnold.
Jennifer Arnold knew she was adopted. Her parents had tried for nine years to have a baby before they adopted her.
“Reading that letter I found out that I had siblings and that my birth dad was also looking for me,” Arnold said.
Jennifer reconnected with her birth mother.
“Eventually we got to talk on the phone, and we actually talked on the phone till really, really, really early in the morning,” she said.
Saturday, Jennifer got to hear more about her birth mother's experience.
Jennifer's birth mom Lori was only 14 when she first found out she was pregnant. She faced the decision to have an abortion on more than one occasion. Now, she is a counselor at the Pregnancy Resource Center in Salt Lake City working in the post-abortive Pathway Program.
She said she knows both sides of what the decision to abort a pregnancy feels like.
“It’s just amazing to me that through my mom's journey of placing me for adoption, keeping a baby as a young mother and also aborting a baby, that she used that experience with God to make it really a beautiful thing,” Arnold said.
Its stories like these that brought hundreds to the march.
“Everybody was just like happy and cheering, and a lot of people honking on the street in support,” said Andrea Thum, one participant.
Many carried signs to display their reasons for marching.
“There’s nothing like holding your baby... and that's the experience that sometimes women don't get; they're afraid, they're alone, they feel like they don't have the money or the support, and we want them to know that there are people out there, organizations, that are ready to help,” said Deanna Holland, Vice President of Pro Life Utah.
As for Jennifer, she is happily married with a family of her own. She said her gratitude for her birth mother's choice is realized even more now that she has five children of her own.
“It really made me think that, like, they wouldn't exist if she had chosen to terminate me, and so I’m really grateful that she did it even though it was very, very hard,” Arnold said.
Click here for more information aboutPro Life Utah and click here for information about support available through the Pregnancy Resource Center.
