Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Pro-Life Action League and son of veteran pro-life leader Joe Scheidler, will be the featured speaker at the Sanctity of Human Life Rally at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 20, at Sacred Heart Church in downtown Peoria.

Sponsored by Central Illinois Right to Life, the rally — held annually near the Jan. 22 anniversary of the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decisions legalizing abortion at any stage of pregnancy — will be preceded by an open house from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. at the Family Resources Center, 321 Main St. A Walk for Life from the Peoria County Courthouse to Sacred Heart Church begins at 6:30 p.m.

Since 2007, Eric Scheidler has headed the grassroots pro-life group Fox Valley Families Against Planned Parenthood, which is dedicated to shutting down the nation’s largest abortion facility in Aurora. Scheidler, his wife April and their eight children reside in Aurora.

A graduate of the University of Illinois with a master’s in English studies from the University of Georgia, Scheidler is a former assistant director of The Gift Foundation, an organization devoted to enriching Christian marriage.

The Family Resources Center, a free loan library and outreach of the Diocese of Peoria’s Respect Life Board, will host “Education for Life Week” open houses during business hours Jan. 17-22. For more information, call the center at (309) 637-1713.

An estimated 51 million unborn children have been killed through legal abortion in the U.S. since 1973.

The next issue of The Catholic Post will include other observances of the anniversary planned around the diocese. In addition, hundreds from central Illinois — including Bishop Daniel R. Jenky, CSC — will travel to Washington, D.C., for the national March for Life and related activities.