A group of Catholic college students are walking across America with a message: Life is valuable and abortion is wrong.

They left San Francisco early this summer and arrived in Salt Lake City this week on their foot trek to Washington, D.C.This is the fourth year that the anti-abortion group Crossroads has held its "Walk for Life." In Utah, the 13 young men and women are staying at the St. Martin De Porres Catholic Church, according to Mick Spencer, a deacon of the Taylorsville church.

Their purpose isn't just to walk, he said, but to speak to other young people in the places they visit. In Salt Lake, they're talking to several Catholic parishes before they resume their journey next week.

In the towns where they don't find a church to stay in, the seven women sleep in the group's recreational vehicle which accompanies the walkers as a support vehicle. The six men pitch a tent nearby.

"These kids are totally dedicated and very pious," said Spencer.

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They expect to arrive on the steps of the Capitol in Washington D.C. on Aug. 15, where they will hold closing ceremonies.

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