(WASHINGTON EXAMINER) — Thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators rallied Friday at the Washington Monument for the 52nd annual March for Life, the third rally since the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturned federal protections for abortion.
Outgoing March for Life President Jeanne Mancini told the Washington Examiner that improving policies to support expectant mothers ought to be a new focus of the movement following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“A data point that haunts me is that 60% of women who are postabortive would have chosen life if they had the requisite emotional and financial support,” Mancini told the Washington Examiner. “I think that we should work towards that 60%. First of all, there are a lot of resources out there, and we need to bridge the information gap about what’s actually out there.”
Jennie Bradley Licther, president-elect of the March for Life who will take over when Mancini retires at the end of January, told the Washington Examiner that improving access to resources for expectant mothers will continue to be a top priority.
“I think the more that we can do as a movement and the more the government can do to help vulnerable women know where the support is for them and increase that resources and support, the better we’ll gain,” Licther said.
Daniella, 15, of Tampa, Florida, told the Washington Examiner that “changing the hearts of the people” must be an essential step in achieving the March for Life’s stated mission of “making abortion unthinkable.”
“A lot of times the people who support abortion, they don’t value their own lives, and they don’t realize that God loves them and that that there’s just so much beauty found in life and that everyone deserves a chance to live,” Daniella said. “Every mother deserves a chance to know that her baby has a chance and that she has options to choose life and that she should never choose murder. [It] is never an option.”
Numerous middle school and high school groups joined the march, which organizers expected to reach upwards of 150,000 attendees. Many young people held signs to the effect that they are members of the “pro-life generation.”
Isabella, 15, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, told the Washington Examiner that she was in middle school when Roe was overturned. Nevertheless, it had a significant impact on her anti-abortion position.
“Some people might have thought that we would give up, but I think the fact that we did overturn it, even though it had been so long, it was really important to show that,” Isabella said. “Even if it takes a long time, it’s still possible.”
Abigail, Isabella’s sister, 17, said that the overturning of Roe is what got her involved in anti-abortion advocacy.
“The pro-life movement is very young,” Abigail said. “I think it’s growing in that direction, getting younger and younger. I think more and more teenagers and even younger are getting involved in it.”
According to a new Marist-Knights of Columbus poll released earlier this week, only 33% of Generation Z and millennials say that they support legalized abortion at any point in pregnancy.
More than 20% in that age bracket say abortion should only be legal in cases of rape, incest, or to save the life of the mother. Another 20% say that they only support abortion through the first three months of pregnancy, or the first trimester.
Vice President JD Vance, the second vice president to attend the March, said during his remarks that the spirit of the march is about more than one day but rather “a life-long call for action.”
“The March for Life is the work of the pro-life movement every single day from this time forward,” Vance said, adding that bolstering pro-family policies that support expectant mothers is a priority for the incoming Trump administration.