Walk for Life West Coast and OneLife LA to hold events on January 24, 2026

Two major pro-life walks organized by Catholics will return to California on Saturday, January 24. They are timed roughly in conjunction with the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, which struck down the nation’s anti-abortion laws (reversed by the Dobbs decision in 2022).

The Walk for Life West Coast will return for the 22nd year to the streets of downtown San Francisco, and will feature a rally at Civic Center Plaza followed by a 1.8-mile walk down Market Street to Embarcadero Plaza.

OneLife LA will include a program at the plaza of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in downtown Los Angeles, followed by a short walk around the neighboring streets and a Requiem Mass for the Unborn.

The main event for the Walk for Life West Coast begins at 10:45 with a “Silent No More” awareness campaign at the Civic Center Plaza. Led by Georgette Forney and Frank Pavone of Priests for Life, it features testimonies of people harmed by abortion. Starting at 11 a.m. is an Info Faire, featuring groups providing information about different aspects of the pro-life movement.

The rally kicks off at 12:30 p.m. Speakers include Jason Jones, a long-time pro-life advocate; Glendie Loranger, who leads a pregnancy medical center in Spokane, WA; Elizabeth Barrett, a pro-choice agnostic turned pro-life Christian; and Reverend Clenard Childress, a Baptist pastor who has especially promoted the pro-life message in the black community.

The Walk follows the speakers and begins at 1:30 p.m.

Jason Jones is attending his second Walk for Life West Coast, and it will be his first time as a speaker. Jones was motivated to become active in the pro-life cause when his girlfriend aborted their child when he was a teen. He began his pro-life activism going door-to-door in Hawaii, sharing the pro-life message in his free time while he was an active duty infantryman in the U.S. Army. He has been a pro-life filmmaker; he served as executive director, for example, for the 2006 film Bella. Today, he is a podcaster and leads the Vulnerable People Project.

In an interview with CWR, Jones described the 2022 Dobbs decision overturning Roe as “a modest milestone in the effort to rebuild a culture of life.” He said he was not discouraged by the failure of multiple legislative attempts to restrict abortion, as most of the focus of the pro-life movement has not been political but in operating pro-life clinics in communities nationwide. He said, “It’s a heroic story that the media has not told.”

He also noted that he was a Catholic convert from an “irreligious” background and was excited to participate in a walk dominated by Catholics. He said, “Whether it be abortion or other family life issues, I’m so grateful that the Catholic Church is leading the way.”

Prominent in the walk each year are a variety of Catholic school and parish groups that participate, including a contingent that has come for each of the last 18 years from Archbishop Riordan High School in San Francisco. Alex Datoc, director of campus ministry, noted that as many as 50 Riordan students and staff have turned out for the walk, and he hopes for a strong showing again this year.

He said, “It is a good learning experience for our students and a chance to give public witness to their faith. We hope to see many other students out there from other schools as well.”

Danielle Jow teaches morality and life ethics to high school juniors at Riordan and will be walking with a parish group, St. Dominic in San Francisco, as part of its well-known young adult group. The parish is staffed by Dominicans, and the Dominican friars walk with the parish, not only those at the parish but most Dominicans living in the area, totaling up to 50. As many as 30 of those who attend the young adult group participate.

Jow has been a regular participant through the years, and shows up “as a reflection of my faith. I want to express my belief that human life is sacred, a gift of God, and abortion should not be an option.”

Jow started participating as a high school student, and seeing the vulgarity of the counter protesters “really opened my eyes to the reality of evil. We see people not just in favor of legal abortion, but who have a hatred of the Catholic faith.”

In particular, in 2021, she said, she recalled hearing “counter protestors saying blasphemy about our priests and the Catholic Faith. These are people who don’t know the love of God, that our priests are here to help us get to heaven, and that our Catholic Church loves women and their children.”

She said she’s never felt unsafe while walking, however, particularly since male volunteers from St. Dominic’s young adult group volunteer to stand between the protestors and the walkers “making sure the peace is kept.”

She continued, “It humbles me, as these are real men standing up for life and the Church, and have to stand there for a few hours listening to their vulgarities.”

She added, “I see the Walk for Life as a Walk for Love. We show our love for mothers and their children, and that we love what our faith teaches.”

Andrew Pattarelli is a senior at Santa Clara University, and is walking with about a dozen students and staff from his college. He’s attended the walk for the past two years, and “I’ve been surprised that I’ve become close to those who participate.”

Previously, he said, he’d kept a “low profile” when it came to publicly expressing his beliefs, but after attending the walk, “I’ve found I’ve become increasingly comfortable about expressing my commitment to Christ and His Church.”

Among the many groups of religious participating in the walk are five members of the Sisters of Life from the St. Agnes Convent-Pregnancy Mission in Phoenix. Sister Lumen Gloriae said the community has been a regular participant in the walk, and is motivated to go because “It is a gift to be present to those who courageously stand for all life, to pray together, and to be a visible witness that there is hope and another way forward than living in fear. It is an experience of solidarity with others who also hold sacred every human person at every stage.”

Sister said that the “heart of our community is the Charism of Life.” She continued, “We are women consecrated to the Lord of Life Himself so that we might reveal to each person we meet that they are good, that God has a plan for their life, that their life has meaning because He sees and loves each of us, and has called us into existence.”

The sisters have 140 members in the United States and Canada; her Phoenix community serves women in crisis pregnancies, “walking with them through the fears and vulnerability of an unexpected pregnancy so that they can come to life and accept the beautiful gift God has given them to be a mother to their child.”

They also work with college students at Arizona State University, “in order to uphold them and help them along the ups and downs of life’s journey as they seek to grow closer to God and live faithfully in a secular environment.”

The sisters also host retreats, give presentations on the “sacred dignity of the human person,” and help those who have been harmed by abortion “to encounter and receive God’s healing love and mercy.”

Sister Lumen Gloriae noted that the community plans to participate in a prayer vigil at St. Dominic Church, as well as in a Mass offered by San Francisco Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone at St. Mary’s Cathedral. During the walk, the sisters face paint and pass out prayer cards and stickers with messages such as, “No one can replace you!” and “You are unique, irreplaceable and unrepeatable.”

Sister added, “It is also a celebration of life, that even in our sorrows, trials, and difficulties, we are not alone and Jesus took on our human nature to redeem it, to bring us to the abundant life of grace.”

There are a number of companion activities to the walk. On the Friday before the walk, for example, there will be a Walk for Life prayer vigil at St. Dominic’s beginning at 5 p.m. Participants can join the friars for vespers, Mass, and a holy hour with confessions. Historic Ss. Peter and Paul Church will have an Adoration for Life from 8-10 p.m.

Activities on the day of the walk include a Walk for Life mass at St. Mary’s Cathedral. Archbishop Cordileone celebrates the Mass and serves as homilist, then joins the walkers in the afternoon. The Traditional Latin Mass will be celebrated at the Shrine of St. Francis of Assisi at 5 p.m.; Thomas Aquinas chaplain Fr. Robert Marczewski will serve as celebrant. Holy Trinity Cathedral will offer an Orthodox Divine Liturgy at 8:30 a.m., followed by a fellowship meal.

Star of the Sea Parish, which always has a large contingent of walkers, will offer a free BBQ at 4 p.m., followed by an all-night Adoration for Life beginning at 5 p.m.

Participants are asked to register for free at www.walkforlifewc.com. The site includes a route map, code of conduct, parking information, and information on accommodations.

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The Archdiocese of Los Angeles will present its annual life event, OneLife LA, on Saturday, January 24, beginning at 1:30 p.m.

This year, participants will gather at the plaza of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels for a program, followed by a walk to nearby Gloria Molina Grand Park and concluding with a Requiem Mass for the Unborn. Los Angeles Archbishop Jose Gomez will celebrate the Mass and address participants; auxiliary bishops from the other regions of the archdiocese will also participate.

Unlike the San Francisco walk, which has a specific focus on ending abortion, the Los Angeles event lists nine “focus areas”: pro-life, homelessness, human trafficking, end of life, foster care and adoption, environment, the disabled, racism, and immigration.

In addition to Archbishop Gomez, speakers at the event include Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, Nora Placencia Flores, who last year spoke of her ectopic pregnancy, Knights of Columbus State Deputy Ken Rose, and Sofia Alatorre Gonzalez.

As part of the event, the archdiocese will present a Dr. Tirso del Junco grant of $10,000 to the Knights of Columbus in support of “their continued efforts to uphold the dignity of every human life and promote charitable initiatives within the community,” said the archdiocese in a statement.

The event is in its 12th year, and its purpose, says Archbishop Gomez, is to promote the belief that “every life is precious and must be loved and protected, from conception until natural death – as children of God made in His image, every person has a sanctity and dignity that cannot be diminished.”

Among those participating is Tim Shannon, president of the Order of Malta Mobile Ministries. Shannon’s group provides food for needy families in the Southland; they go annually to OneLife LA to distribute water and sunscreen and to provide first aid if needed. It’s been a positive experience for him to attend, he said, because “it promotes a positive message: that human life is sacred.”

Companion events include a OneLife LA Holy Hour on the Friday before the event, 7-8 p.m. at Christ the King Parish in Los Angeles.

OneLife LA also requests that participants register for free online. Visit www.onelifela.org to register and for other information about attending.