MOSES LAKE - A Moses Lake resident was one of a small group of women chosen from across the nation to complete a 250-mile walk opposing abortion.

Sabrina Valdez, 33, set out on the open road from Houston, Texas on March 17 and, after averaging a dozen miles a day, arrived with the group in Dallas on April 6.

Valdez, who is an associate pastor at Moses Lake's Sendero Church, first became aware of the walk after listening to Pastor Lou Engle, a Christian speaker who organizes prayer gatherings throughout the country.

"He was speaking on pro-life and being a voice for the voiceless in the black and Hispanic cultures," she said. "I came to understand this is our time to rise up and take our place in the fight for life."

Valdez soon after heard about an organization called the Back to Life Movement, which was accepting applicants for the "Trek for Life." While many applied, only 39 women were selected, each representing one year since Roe v Wade, the Supreme Court decision that struck down many state laws restricting abortion.

The women walked from what Valdez said is the nation's largest Planned Parenthood clinic in Houston to the Earle Cabell Federal Building in Dallas, where Roe v Wade was originally filed. The long walk ended with the two-day "Esther Call" at the Dallas Convention Center, in which Engle and hundreds of women gathered to pray for an end to abortion.

"Everything signified something," Valdez said. "The whole purpose of the walk was to stand for life."

The women stayed in motels most nights, eating dinners provided by church groups, and started out early after breakfast each morning, beginning the first 39 minutes of the walk in silent prayer, Valdez said.

Blisters and sprains were common among the group, although Valdez said she herself never suffered more than some sore muscles after training nearly every day from January to March by walking four hours daily around the Moses Lake area.

Over the course of the three week trek, Valdez formed close bonds with several of her fellow walkers, a multi-ethnic group hailing from all over the country and ranging in age from high school seniors to women in their late thirties.

Some of the women had gone through the experience of having an abortion while others had survived abortions themselves, Valdez said.

"Hearing everybody's story about going through abortion - the thoughts of suicide, depression and guilt - the walk brought a lot of healing for them and forgiveness for themselves," she said. "It was awesome to walk along side them and feel like we were supporting them as well. We just started talking and connecting."

One of her closest friends on the walk was Marcela Garcia, a woman from California who had an abortion as a teenager. Valdez said Garcia spoke about the fear that accompanied telling her parents because she thought it would bring them shame.

"In the Hispanic culture, (abortion) is just not spoken of because we're taught that we should never cause our parents shame," Valdez said. "I grew up in church, but abortion is not something that my parents necessarily taught me about. I just remember in junior high with my friends saying the bottom line is adoption, that's the only option. There's got to be another choice, and let it be adoption."

When asked what she took away from the experience of the walk, Valdez said she's realized the importance of standing up and sharing your personal story, regardless of what may have been a painful past.

"Your story is going to bring healing to those around you," she said. "There's no one that has a perfect background. There's no one that is perfect, and I believe just telling people what you've gone through will bring healing to everybody else and restoration, a sense of happiness again, to your own life."