Right to Life of Indianapolis president Marc Tuttle remembered for pro-life legacy
By Natalie Hoefer
When COVID restrictions prevented the Indiana March for Life and rally from taking place as usual on Jan. 22, 2021, Marc Tuttle was undeterred.
“We decided to quickly pivot,” said the president of Right to Life of Indianapolis (RTLI), the organization responsible for the annual march and following rally. The “march” became a caravan, and the rally was moved to a larger outdoor space.
“We must hold this event every year,” he stressed at the rally. “It’s important to take a day like today to remember and mourn the 62 million lives [at that time] that were lost to abortion.”
That urgency and passion for protecting the unborn and their mothers defined the life of Tuttle, who died unexpectedly of a heart attack on June 2 at the age of 53.
The pro-life cause served as bookends to his life: Tuttle was born on April 1, 1973, just nine weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion, and he advised legislators in creating laws that made most abortions in Indiana illegal after Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022.
Tuttle spent his entire career working for pro-life organizations, including the last 18 years as president of RTLI.
In 1995, he married the love of his life, Dzintra. Together they raised their five daughters—Larisa Broulet, Bridget, Aija, Ieva and Jacinta—forming them in the Catholic faith at home and through active involvement at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Parish in Carmel, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese.
Tuttle was an educator as well. From serving as a catechist, to teaching homeschool classes, to exploring the faith through a podcast, to educating through his role with RTLI, he both informed and evangelized.
Faith and promoting a culture of life were so intertwined as to be inseparable for Tuttle. In fact, it was the pro-life cause that led him to the Catholic faith.
‘We were thrilled to find him’
Tuttle was raised as a Methodist. He grew up in a military family, lived in several states and in Europe, and earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Indiana University in Bloomington. He later earned a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of Dallas.
It was at IU that one calling developed into three for Tuttle. He became involved in and eventually headed IU Students for Life—and through the pro-life activities he met Dzintra Brugman. Through their pro-life involvement, the couple, who married in 1995, came to find truth in and embrace the Catholic faith.
Tuttle worked for 10 years as a researcher for Life Dynamics, a national pro-life organization in Denton, Texas. He then worked for three years as the state communications and development director for Pro-Life Wisconsin in Brookfield, Wis.
When Tuttle was hired as RTLI president in July 2008, “We were thrilled to find him,” says the organization’s board chairman Thomas Hirschauer. “He was very passionate and committed to the pro-life movement. … This wasn’t simply a job for him by any stretch—this was his life’s work.”
Tuttle showed insight on his new position in an Aug. 29, 2008, Criterion article. Going from national to state to localized pro-life organizations, “I’ve learned as time went on that the more local you get, the more effective you can be as far as impacting this issue,” he said. “It has to be person to person. You have to be able to equip pro-life supporters to carry the message to others. It’s got to be neighbor to neighbor, people talking to each other.”
Tuttle lived out that philosophy by engaging others, says Mary Dougherty, Tuttle’s co-worker for 18 years.
‘He worked tirelessly with youths’
Whether it was a booth at the state fair, fairs in the counties surrounding Marion, the Indianapolis Black Expo, the National Catholic Youth Conference or elsewhere, “Marc was there, he showed up, he was involved,” she says.
The same is true for the annual Indiana March for Life and following rally. The event was co-founded in 2018 by the Archdiocese of Indianapolis, the Diocese of Lafayette and, through Tuttle’s leadership, Right to Life of Indianapolis.
“There was always so much fire in Marc’s voice when he spoke about protecting the babies and supporting the moms in need,” says Linda Kile, former executive director and president for the pro-life Great Lakes Gabriel Project. “It was easy to see that what he was doing was more than a job—it was his investment in the future generations of Indiana.”
Hirschauer praises Tuttle for engaging “with not just Catholics but with other faith leaders to bring the life cause to people in the pews.”
Dougherty agrees, saying Tuttle “worked so well with people of other faiths. He was a good, pro-life Catholic for non-Catholics” to encounter.
Tuttle’s pro-life advocacy also included “hard work” behind-the-scenes with legislators, says Hirschauer. In fact, the RTLI board presented Tuttle with a special Defender of Life Award in October 2022, for those efforts.
“Marc fought tirelessly leading up to and following [the Supreme Court’s] decision overturning Roe v. Wade,” Hirschauer is quoted as saying in an Oct. 14, 2022, Criterion article. “This includes lobbying efforts, multiple rallies and advocacy for the protection of pre-born children that significantly contributed to the success [of] Indiana pro-life laws. Marc has simply been a staunch defender of life. Now, his efforts will literally help save the lives of thousands of babies.”
Hirschauer also notes one of Tuttle’s greatest successes was helping young people become more involved in the pro-life cause.
“He worked tirelessly with youths” and assisting Dougherty in helping high school students form pro-life clubs in their school, says Hirschauer. “He helped create with Mary high school pro-life clubs. … At our last [annual] Celebrate Life dinner, we had over 300 youths.”
Former RTLI vice-president of public affairs Sue Liebel lauds Tuttle’s efforts to engage youths.
“He made a lasting impact on the pro-life community in central Indiana,” says Liebel, who now works with Washington-based Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. Particularly. She adds, “His legacy will live on through the immeasurable numbers of young people he brought into the fight for life.”
Dougherty notes Tuttle’s willingness to “guide and mentor young leaders in the movement.”
Perhaps that was the teacher in him coming through—or the catechist.
‘He was an extraordinary man of God’
Tuttle was active in his children’s homeschool education, teaching classes not just for them but for others in the homeschool community in which the family was involved.
Just as the pro-life cause was intertwined with Tuttle’s faith, so was the realm of teaching.
“He’s been a fifth-grade catechist ever since I started here,” says Leighton Drake, director of children and junior high faith formation at Our Lady of Mt. Carmel for 13 years.
“Marc made me want to learn more,” he says. “He’s one of those guys who is very knowledgeable but has such a sincere love for the Lord and the Church. He was an extraordinary man of God.”
Drake says the Tuttle family has been “actively involved in the parish.” And in his role, Drake has seen the Tuttle girls advance from being faith formation students to aides. He calls them “beautiful, holy young women. That comes from parents who live their faith.”
Tuttle combined his passion for knowledge and the faith in “The Catholic Cave” weekly, one-hour podcast he co-hosted with Tim O’Donnell for five years.
“The light of the Catholic faith was the theme of the show,” which has been downloaded in 40 countries, says O’Donnell. “It took Catholic philosophy and applied it to current times.
“That’s where I really saw him shine in terms of his eagerness to evangelize, share the faith, explain the faith,” adds O’Donnell, an active pro-life advocate and former RTLI board member. “He was so good at connecting reason and faith.
“And he was a Catholic gentleman in the best sense. He comported himself with virtue, a sense of honor, purpose, self-sacrifice and service.”
O’Donnell reflects on Tuttle as “a brave man” who “kept going in adversity. …
“I think he knew that he was on Christ’s team. He had that kind of inner strength and calm and confidence of knowing he was answering God’s call to save and protect these [unborn] lives. That gave him the strength not just to persevere but to thrive in the hard battles he faced.”
RTLI ‘will go on in his memory’
For three decades, Tuttle gave his all in the battle to promote a culture of life.
“Over 30 years of dedication and commitment to promoting a culture of life—how many do that?” says Dougherty.
“Very few people in this world have the zeal, passion and desire to protect and educate people about the value of human life that Marc had,” says Kile.
She sees his legacy as a three-fold impact.
“It is embedded in the strong pro-life laws he worked so hard to get passed in Indiana.
“It is his efforts, and success, at bringing in a younger generation and uniting them with seasoned pro-life people to grow an even stronger, more resilient pro-life community in Indiana.
“And his legacy is in the life of every woman who chose to seek help instead of abortion and in the lives of each child born as a result of all his work.”
Tuttle lived to see victory in the battle to overturn Roe v. Wade, but “the war continues,” says Hirschauer.
“In regard to the organization and movement, the last thing Marc would ever want is that his passing stopped us from doing what he wanted us to do.
“He’s been the stalwart of the organization for 18 years, and he’s going to leave a big hole. But the organization will go on, and it will go on in his memory.” †