ANNIVERSARY

And for almost as many years, hundreds have gathered each year in Columbus to do the same, said Beth Vanderkooi, executive director of Greater Columbus Right to Life.

She said the event aims to memorialize the number of abortions in the country, a number Vanderkooi said stands at 60 million since 1973. Vanderkooi spoke in the atrium beside several boxes filled with baby shoes: a visual reminder of the 373 abortions that take place each month in central Ohio.

“The true cost of abortion is in each individual human whose dignity is decimated,” she said. “We ask you to remember with us these children.”

Noelle Geno, 36, of Gahanna, remembered the child she aborted years ago. Geno, a speaker and educator at Pregnancy Decision Health Center in Columbus, shared the story of her abortion, hoping that those in the audience would walk away with “an incredible message of God’s healing and restorative power.”

Though Geno said she struggled with guilt and shame for several years after her abortion at age 20, she told of finding redemption in God.

“We don’t ever want a woman to feel so hopeless and alone she thinks abortion is the only choice,” she said.

Before Geno shared her message of healing, Robinette, pastor at Foundation Church in Williamsport, urged supporters to stop hating women who get abortions.

“We should love them,” he said, to cheers.

Before the ceremony, more than 400 people assembled at Saint Joseph Cathedral Downtown for a day of prayer and Mass for the legal protection of unborn children.

“This is a day of prayer and witness of all life,” said the Rev. Robert Kitsmiller, filling in for Columbus Bishop Frederick F. Campbell, who was ill. “It calls for a collective response.”

Katie McKenzie, 15, of Upper Arlington, left school early to join her mother, Lori McKenzie, at the Mass and march for the first time.

“What pro-life people are trying to do is help mothers to make the choice of life for their child,” Katie said. “I support it because everyone deserves the right to life. If you choose to abort a child, it continues a cycle of violence that causes suffering in both the mother’s life and the baby that can feel pain.

“It has a rippling effect through families and friends and acquaintances and everyone you know.”

[ERIC ALBRECHT/DISPATCH PHOTOS] Attendees pray Monday at a Roe v. Wade remembrance event for unborn children at the Statehouse Atrium. They did so next to bins containing 373 pairs of baby shoes, a number organizers said represents the number of abortions in central Ohio every month.

At the Statehouse, Noelle Geno, 36, of Gahanna, describes the abortion she had when she was 20 and her subsequent journey to the anti-abortion movement and God.