National March for Life organizers have chosen to dedicate this year’s pro-life march to constitutional lawyers Carol Crosson and Albertos Polizogopoulos.

Crosson died in January 2023 at the age of 59 due to metastasized cancer and Polizogopoulos died a year ago, also because of cancer, on the day of the 2024 March for Life.

Matthew Wojciechowski, vice-president of Campaign Life Coalition, told The Catholic Register, Campaign Life doesn’t dedicate the annual pro-life event to people “because of their involvement with the march specifically, but more so because of their role in the pro-life movement at large.”

Both honorees are described as having been “pro-life champions,” specifically in the Canadian legal arena.

Crosson came to the practice of law in her mid-40s, in reaction to a changing political environment she perceived as increasingly hostile to Christians and religious freedom. She founded Freedoms Advocate and Crosson Constitutional Law. According to the firm’s website, Crosson “completed nearly 50 constitutional and human rights cases and won 93% of them.”

Upon Polizogopoulos’ death, Jonathon Van Maren, communications director at the Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform (CCBR), wrote, “Albertos was a familiar face to everyone in the pro-life movement.”

The lawyer made 10 appearances before the Supreme Court of Canada, dedicated thousands of hours of pro bono work and was co-founder, with his wife Faye Sonier, of a boutique law firm dedicated to the defense of constitutional freedoms, particularly religious and conscience rights.

Van Maren noted that the lawyer never missed a March for Life. It was perhaps then fitting that Polizogopoulos should die on the day of the march itself.

It was at the Rose Dinner, the banquet which takes place following the March for Life, as people found their seats, that news was whispered from table to table that Polizogopoulos had passed away. It was confirmed by an announcement by Campaign Life president Jeff Gunnarson.

Though Polizogopoulos had been diagnosed with brain cancer three years earlier, and friends had been expecting such an announcement for weeks, the news still came as a shock.  Despite his youth, only 41 when he died, Polizogopoulos had taken on a kind of elder statesman’s role in the Canadian pro-life movement.

Gunnarson told The Interim, “The pro-life community has lost a great ally.” 

Crosson and Polizogopoulos will be honoured at the 2025 Rose Dinner on May 8. In addition to video vignettes, Sonier will speak on behalf of the family and Crosson’s husband Ray, though unable to attend the event in person, will address the banquet in a short video clip.

The Rose Dinner booklet notes that Crosson “was a fearless defender of fundamental freedoms, including representing pro-life students on university campuses, vigorously advocating for their rights to free expression and religious liberty.”

“Polizogopoulos was a dedicated advocate for conscience rights and religious freedom, known for his principled defense of physicians, concerned parents and pro-life activists, including Fr. Tony Van Hee.”

Past marches have been dedicated to Dr. Andre Lafrance, Fr. Bob Bedard CC, Van Hee, Linda Gibbons and Mary Wagner, Elsie Wayne, Campaign Life founder Jim Hughes, and last year Angelina and Walter Steenstra. Angelina is the National Coordinator of Silent No More Awareness Campaign Canada.