AP

The Third Annual Walk for Life in Sydney, 20 September 2025

A person walking through Hyde Park on Saturday 20 September about 2.00pm would have seen a sea of white T-shirts gathered east of the Archibald Fountain. Small children danced with bubble wands, while families, friends, and strangers enjoyed the spring sunshine together. The group lifted their voices in song, prayer and finally cheering at the sound of the heartbeat of the unborn baby in the womb of Monisha Vidler. All before picking up signs to walk around the park together. Along the way, curious onlookers often stopped to ask the same question: What is this about? What is the Walk for Life?

Pro-life advocate Monica Doumit was the first to answer that question. She shared the origins of the Walk for Life, which began in Washington in 1974 when lawyer Nellie Gray organised the first March for Life after the Roe v. Wade decision of the previous year. Gray was optimistic that the Supreme Court would quickly reverse its ruling, but the March continued for 48 years until Roe was finally overturned in 2022—ten years after Gray’s death. Monica reminded listeners that, even if we never see abortion laws reversed in NSW in our lifetime, the cause remains worthy.

Next, the Hon. Susan Carter spoke about the devastating consequences of labelling abortion as “healthcare.” She explained that abortion not only fails to resolve the struggles women face, it compounds them with grief, loss, and sorrow. It was impressed upon the crowd that abortion not only ends the lives of unborn children but also causes great damage to their mothers.

A particularly moving moment came when Ilia and Serene Savvidis shared their story. After learning that their daughter had developmental issues in the womb, they were pressured repeatedly to abort. Shockingly, even after Reya’s birth, doctors at Westmead Hospital urged them to “end it” by withholding care. Yet on Saturday, Reya herself—smiling behind pink sunglasses—sat with her parents in Hyde Park. Their testimony of gratitude and joy in their daughter’s life, contrasted with hearing of the repeated offers to end it, left the group stunned.

Finally, Martyn Iles brought the event to its heart. He declared that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the antithesis of abortion. Where abortion sacrifices the life of a child for the sake of self, Christ—who knew no sin—gave up His life so that the spiritually dead might live. This love of God, Iles argued, is the core of the Walk for Life; it is what draws in this gathering each year.

And that is why, despite the sad reality of abortion in NSW being explained, Hyde Park was filled with smiles, songs and bubbles. Because the gospel offers light and life even in the darkness of abortion.

And that is why, next year, you should come.

– Nathan Athavle