COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Monday is the 45th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion in the U.S.

Pro-life advocates gathered at the Ohio Statehouse Monday, in an event aiming to memorialize the number of abortions that have happened since the ruling. According to Ohio Right to Life, that number stands at 60 million.

“Each one of us is fully human from the moment that we exist and that there should be legal protection for everybody including unborn children,” said Beth Vanderkooi, Executive Director of Greater Columbus Right to Life.

Activists had baby shoes on display, signifying the 373 abortions that happen each month in Central Ohio.

The Catholic Diocese of Columbus also held its annual ‘Respect Life Mass’ at St. Joseph Cathedral.

Norma McCorvey, whose legal challenge under the pseudonym “Jane Roe” led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision that legalized abortion but who later became an outspoken opponent of the procedure, died in 2017.

McCorvey was 22, unmarried, unemployed and pregnant for the third time when in 1969 she sought to have an abortion in Texas, where the procedure was illegal except to save a woman’s life. The subsequent lawsuit, known as Roe v. Wade, led to Supreme Court’s 1973 ruling that established abortion rights, though by that time, McCorvey had given birth and given her daughter up for adoption.

Decades later, McCorvey underwent a conversion, becoming an evangelical Christian and joining the anti-abortion movement. A short time later, she underwent another religious conversion and became a Roman Catholic.The Associated Press contributed to this story.