SAN DIEGO — “My story is, without a doubt, a story of hope, faith and Christ’s unfathomable mercy.”
That’s how Ramona Treviño, the keynote speaker for the upcoming 13th annual San Diego Walk for Life, describes her transformation from pro-choice manager of a Planned Parenthood to impassioned advocate for the sanctity of life.
Treviño’s speech will be just one example of how the event’s organizers will be emphasizing the virtue of hope, in honor of Jubilee Year 2025. The Catholic Church is observing a holy year, or jubilee, from Dec. 24, 2024, to Jan. 6, 2026; the theme for this special period of repentance and conversion is “Pilgrims of Hope.”
“This event is about hope,” said Maria Valencia, the diocese’s associate director for Culture of Life, reflecting on the San Diego Walk for Life. “It’s about hope that we have a better world, that we can offer more resources to pregnant women, that we can save more babies. We really hope that abortion will be stopped one day.”
More than 3,000 people are expected to attend the Walk for Life, which will be held from 8:30 a.m. to noon, Saturday, Jan. 18, at Waterfront Park. Cardinal Robert W. McElroy will lead the walk, as he has in previous years. The schedule includes an approximately half-mile walk, speeches and testimonials, about 50 pro-life exhibitor booths, and live entertainment.
Valencia said that a Women’s March is expected to take place nearby on the same day as the Walk for Life. The event is expected to draw many pro-choice activists to protest the inauguration of President Donald Trump. This has occurred previously without incident.
As always, she said, the Walk for Life will have law enforcement and security personnel on-site to ensure participants’ safety, and participants are encouraged to adhere to the “walker’s code of conduct,” which includes refusing to respond to pro-choice protesters and immediately reporting them to security.
Treviño, a Catholic who serves as the outreach director for 40 Days for Life, had been the manager of a Planned Parenthood abortion referral facility in Sherman, Texas. She credits the prayers of 40 Days for Life participants with helping her to break away from that life.
“At one point … it appeared that I would never quit,” said Treviño, the author of “Redeemed by Grace: A Catholic Woman’s Journey to Planned Parenthood and Back.”
“But the faithful continued to pray, fast and trust that God would move me to leave,” she said. “Finally, it happened — even to my own surprise — proving that, with God, all things are possible.”
She said that she was “loved out of the abortion industry” and counsels people that they “mustn’t lose hope and faith in God’s ability to change even the most hardened of hearts.”
Treviño said that, after leaving Planned Parenthood, she didn’t initially intend to share her story publicly. But, she explained, “My new convictions would not allow me to stay silent. … I felt I owed it to (God) to share far and wide both how He converted my heart, and speak out in defense of human life in the womb.”
She encourages her fellow Catholics to stand firmly against abortion.
“No Catholic can support it,” said Treviño, “and no Catholic should sit idly by as innocent babies are led to the slaughter.”
At the same time, she said, those who have made the wrong choice should not despair.
“If there is anyone who is living with the shame or guilt of a past abortion, or their involvement in any way,” she said, “please know that Christ’s mercy is for us all.”
More information is available at sandiegowalkforlife.org. Walk for Life T-shirts can be pre-ordered for $20 at tinyurl.com/SDWL2025T-shirt or purchased for $25 on the day of the event.
