March for Life

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March for Life speakers praise God’s gift of life, stand firm for the unborn

(CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY) — A diverse group of speakers including activists, politicians, and individuals sharing personal stories fired up the crowd on the rally stage ahead of the 52nd annual National March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Friday.

The theme of this year’s demonstration, “Life: Why We March,” was highlighted as speakers, many of whom are Catholics, explained the reasons for their pro-life convictions.

Outgoing March for Life President Jeanne Mancini, who has led the organization since 2012, introduced the new March for Life president, Jennie Bradley Lichter. Lichter — a Catholic mother of three, a lawyer, and a longtime advocate for the sanctity of life — has been active in the pro-life movement since her childhood.

“You know that the wantedness of a human being doesn’t determine our value. You know that it is right and good to stand up for people who are too small to defend themselves … but lately many of the loudest voices have been shouting the lie that women need access to abortion,” Lichter said.

“I will see you all back here next year and every year until every woman and every baby is loved and protected,” she added.

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City, Kansas, led the crowds in prayer, praying that the pro-lifers in attendance go out in strength to build the culture of life and asking the Lord to bless them with “the fire of your Holy Spirit” so that they “never tire of the crusade for life whose origin is in you.”

Following remarks from Sen. John Thune of North Dakota, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson described himself as a “product of an unplanned teen pregnancy,” the first of his parents’ four children, and gave thanks for the fact that his parents chose life.

Johnson went on to highlight Congress’ work defending fundamental freedoms and the new administration’s pro-life actions, including Trump’s pardoning of pro-life activists and his defining life as beginning at conception.

“America is premised on the self-evident truth that every single person is made in the image of our creator God, and thus every single person has inestimable dignity and value,” Johnson said.

Speaking next, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis encouraged all present to “show courage in defense of the unborn” and recounted how his state defeated a pro-abortion ballot measure in November despite misleading information from the opposition and an estimated $120 million spent by the pro-abortion side.

With the ballot measure’s defeat Nov. 5, 2024, Florida became the first state to rebuff a pro-abortion ballot initiative since the overturning of Roe v. Wade along with Nebraska and South Dakota on the same night.

DeSantis argued that standing for the right to life is not bad politics and that he himself is proof of it, pointing to his victory in Florida after overturning Roe v. Wade. DeSantis, who is Catholic, signed legislation in April 2023 to prohibit abortion in Florida once the unborn child’s heartbeat can be detected, which occurs at about six weeks into pregnancy.

(Originally published by Catholic News Agency)

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Trump and Vance join March for Life anti-abortion activists in celebrating the movement’s gains

(AP NEWS) — President Donald Trump vowed to support anti-abortion-rights protesters in his second term as tens of thousands of demonstrators rallied in Washington on Friday for the annual March for Life.

“We will again stand proudly for families and for life,” Trump declared in a prerecorded video address.

Protesters had come to the capital for decades to call for the repeal of Roe v. Wade, which affirmed a constitutional right to an abortion. Now, with the repeal of Roe in 2022, they are now on the inside rather than the outside. With Trump’s return to the White House and Republicans in control of Congress, the activists want to build on their victories.

“Our country faces the return of the most pro-family, most pro-life American president of our lifetimes,” Vice President JD Vance told the crowd in his in-person speech.

Vance hailed Trump’s previous actions on abortion, saying the president “delivered on his promise of ending Roe” and appointed hundreds of anti-abortion judges.

Abortion was largely absent from the stack of dozens of executive actions in Trump’s first days of office. But he has already made quieter moves on abortion, including enforcing the Hyde Amendment, which restricts government funding for most abortions. He also reinstated a policy that requires foreign nongovernmental agencies to certify that they don’t provide or promote abortion if they receive U.S. federal funds for family planning assistance. Since it was introduced over 40 years ago, every GOP president has put it in effect, and every Democrat has rescinded it.

Trump also pardoned several right to life activists and used wording related to fetal personhood in an executive order rolling back protections for transgender people.

Despite frigid weather, a festive atmosphere surrounded the event as activists showed up with multicolored hats and signs declaring “Life is our revolution” and “MAGA: Make Abortion Gone Again.”

“This is a significant moment in history,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America group. “Yes, we have a march every year but this one is pretty special…There is a trifecta of pro-life Republicans in the White House and the House and the Senate.”

Kristen Cooper, 21, was among several thousand Students for Life America members attending. She said she was especially excited to be at the march with anti-abortion Republicans in the White House.

She said this march was her fourth but the first with a Republican administration. “It’s surreal, actually.”

Anna Henderson, a teacher at a Catholic high school near Jackson, Michigan, was also attending her fourth march with a busload of her students.

“Just because we have the backing of the administration doesn’t mean the fight is over,” she said. “We still need to change people’s hearts.”

Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said there is still work to be done, including calling on Trump to defund Planned Parenthood and offer resources such as paid family leave to women with unplanned pregnancies.

“The march now ends on the backside of the U.S. Capitol to remind our representatives that abortion is not only a state issue, but also a local issue and also a federal issue,” she said.

Angela Vasquez-Giroux, vice president of communications at Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which supports abortion rights, said: “We know exactly what is at risk and we know the hate and lies they will spew at the March for Life.”

The battle over abortion since the 2022 decision, has been in state courts and at the ballot box where voters in seven states approved ballot measures for constitutional amendments on reproductive freedom in November. Legislatures have been fighting back already with proposals that could make such measures more difficult to get passed.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated the 2024 defeat of an abortion rights amendment on the March for Life stage and boasted about his role in the state-funded campaign against the measure. Voters there supported a state constitutional amendment overturning a six-week abortion ban but Florida requires 60% to pass constitutional amendments in the state. Most states require a simple majority.

“Most elected officials will say ‘Look, what’s on the ballot is not their issue — the people can decide,’” DeSantis told the crowd. “And they wash their hands of it and walk away.”

Supporters of abortion rights spoke up, too.

“No matter what they said on the campaign trail to win an election, this shows their intentions to continue to attack abortion access,” Ryan Stitzlein, vice president of political and government relations for the national abortion rights organization Reproductive Freedom for All, said of abortion-rights opponents.

“Each time one of these has taken place since the Dobbs decision, it’s been a day to reflect on how much damage that’s been caused by that decision and the crisis we continue to live in.”

(Originally published by AP News)

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PHOTOS: As thousands join March for Life, pro-life advocates share their ‘why’

(CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY) — Tens of thousands of pro-life people of various ages and backgrounds held handmade signs as they walked from the National Mall to the Supreme Court building on Friday, packing the streets of Washington, D.C., for the 52nd annual March for Life.

After several years of disappointment at the ballot box since the overturning of Roe v. Wade in 2022, many participants and speakers expressed optimism after the historic rejection of pro-abortion ballot measures in three states last November as well as the possibilities of additional pro-life actions over the next four years under the administration of newly-inaugurated President Donald Trump.

Powerful testimonies for life

The speakers who took the stage before the march, including activists, politicians, and individuals sharing personal stories, emphasized the inherent value of human life from conception, often citing their faith as a foundation for their pro-life stance.

All advocated for protecting the unborn, supporting women and families facing unplanned pregnancies, and highlighted the importance of providing resources and support.

Most notable among the politicians who addressed the crowds were Trump, who appeared via a prerecorded video message, and Vice President JD Vance.

Trump vowed to end the “weaponization” of law enforcement against pro-life Americans and highlighted his recent pardoning of 23 imprisoned pro-life activists. Vance, in his speech, called for a culture that celebrates life at all stages and proclaimed that the success of a nation is measured by the well-being of families.

“Let me say very simply: I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vance said to loud cheers.

“I want more happy children in our country. And I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them. And it is the task of our government to make it easier for young moms and dads to afford to have kids, to bring them into the world, and to welcome them as the blessings that we know they are here at the March for Life.”

Other politicians such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis emphasized the importance of courage in defending the unborn, touting his state’s victory against a pro-abortion ballot initiative.

Other speakers stressed the importance of individual action and the need to change hearts and minds on the issue of abortion. Lila Rose emphasized the importance of personal conversations to persuade others to understand the value of life and called for the defunding of Planned Parenthood in favor of pro-life pregnancy resource centers that help women and families. Professional surfer and pro-life Christian mother Bethany Hamilton highlighted the need to support women and help them see the true value of life.

Marching for the unborn

Once the march got underway, students from Wheaton College carried the March for Life banner and led the crowd of thousands of pro-lifers down the march route on Constitution Avenue toward the Supreme Court building.

Members of the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) — a Catholic nonprofit group — played Catholic hymns, such as “Ave Maria” and “Hail Holy Queen,” along with patriotic songs.

Members of Students for Life of America (SFLA) displayed a large banner near the front of the pack warning that “Chemical Abortion Pills Kill” unborn children and another that urges lawmakers to “Defund Planned Parenthood.”

“Chemical abortion has started to become the No. 1 [means of obtaining an] … abortion,” Alicia Foreman, the SFLA regional coordinator for the Carolinas, told CNA.

Foreman warned that chemical abortion pills hurt women and are dangerous to the environment. She said they are “so easy to obtain” and “easy for sex traffickers to use” and for “rapists” to obtain to kill the unborn children of their victims.

SFLA has urged state governments and the federal government to ban chemical abortion pills and for Trump to halt the delivery of the pills through the mail by enforcing the Comstock Act. However, Trump has committed to keeping abortion pills available.

“We have more work to do,” Foreman said. “We’ve got to keep pushing.”

Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, who offered a prayer at the beginning of the rally, told CNA in the midst of the March that he believes this year “there is a renewed hope.”

“This is probably my 35th, 36th march,” he said, adding that he continues to attend each year “because it’s the most important human rights issue of our time.”

“A society that permits the killing of its children, that society has no future,” he continued. “We have to change our policies on this, and we have to win these state referendums.”

The archbishop emphasized that even though Roe v. Wade has been overturned, the pro-life movement still has work to do.

“I think there’s a renewed hope with the change of administration, with the freeing of the pro-life prisoners that were in jail,” Naumann observed as a crowd of students passed by.

“We have our work cut out for us, we’ve seen that,” the prelate said. “I’m from Kansas, and we were the first state to have a ballot initiative after the Dobbs decision. Unfortunately, we lost it, but at some point we’re going to come back and we’re going to win that.”

A Catholic University of America student marching with his fellow Cardinals told CNA he was marching for babies who face a grim statistical likelihood of being aborted.

“I march for many reasons,” CUA freshman Jackson Russell told CNA. “But the biggest one is that I’m autistic, and abortion attacks autistic people the most.” Russell, who is studying political science, attended the march with a large group of students from the university.

Pointing to research that has found that mothers who discover that their unborn child has autism are “more likely to get an abortion,” Russell told CNA: “My people are being attacked, that’s why I’m out here.”

Benedictine College students who traveled from Atchison, Kansas, to Washington, D.C., for the March for Life were jubilant, shouting pro-life slogans and carrying a large red-and-black banner through the streets.

Elizabeth Peterson, a junior year honors student at Benedictine, told CNA: “I’m marching because I think that babies have as much right to life as anyone else does, and that includes unborn children.”

“Unless there is equal justice for everyone,” she said, “there is really equal justice for none.”

Peterson, who has attended the March for Life five times, said she was “so proud” to have traveled to the march this year with Benedictine, which she described as “a very pro-life school, [and] very Catholic.”

“Everyone just feels really happy this year,” she said. “I don’t know what it is, but everyone just feels really excited.”

Peterson also said it was “cool to see the vice president speak,” adding: “I think just the mindset has shifted a little bit.”

Members of the secular pro-life group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) held signs in front of the United States Supreme Court — the finishing point of the March for Life — urging Congress to repeal the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

The FACE Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, increased penalties for people who are convicted of obstructing access to abortion clinics or pro-life pregnancy centers — but has almost exclusively been used to convict peaceful pro-life demonstrators over the past four years.

Last night, Trump pardoned 23 pro-life activists who were convicted by President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice, including PAAU Director of Activism Lauren Handy, a Catholic who had been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for her role in a protest.

“I am just so thankful that my friends are out [of prison] and that Trump pardoned them,” Avie Sark, a content creator for PAAU, told CNA. “Our friends were put in prison because of the FACE Act.”

Sark said the FACE Act is “used to criminalize and prosecute peaceful pro-life protesters,” but that “after the death of Roe, hundreds of pregnancy centers [were attacked and] … little to nothing was done about it.”

PAAU member Elise Ketch told CNA the FACE Act seeks to prevent protests in which pro-life activists are “putting our bodies between the oppressor — which is the abortionist — and the oppressed — which is the baby.”

“I want to bring back rescue, which is the protests where we [hold a] sit-in at clinics,” Ketch said.

Tyler Arnold, Madalaine Elhabbal, and Francesca Pollio Fenton contributed to this story. 

(Originally published by Catholic News Agency)

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Vance Promises Pro-Life Movement ‘We Stand With You’ In First Vice Presidential Remarks

(DAILY WIRE) — “It is a blessing to know the truth, and the truth is that unborn life is worthy of protection.”

WASHINGTON — JD Vance delivered his first public remarks as vice president at the 52nd annual March for Life on Friday, vowing to the pro-life movement that the Trump-Vance administration stands by them, and will continue to march with them through the years.

“It is a blessing to know the truth, and the truth is that unborn life is worthy of protection,” he told the thousands of pro-life demonstrators gathered on the National Mall on Friday morning, promising to be back next year. “So please, go forth, not with frustration, but with joy. We are joyful to March for Life. We are joyful to know that that picture on an ultrasound, that is a picture of a baby with hopes and dreams and potential to come. It is a joy and a blessing to fight for the unborn, to work for the unborn, and to March for Life.”

“I want to be clear that this administration stands by you,” he promised the crowd. “We stand with you, and most importantly, we stand with the most vulnerable and the basic principle that people exercising the right to protest on behalf of the most vulnerable should never have the government go after them ever again.”

It was an emotional moment for many of the pro-lifers in the crowd — families pushing strollers and wiping their children’s faces clean, teenagers traveling with their high school teachers, priests and nuns in cheerful groups, and college students from all across the country, joking, flirting, and cheering together. This is a crowd that largely voted for Donald Trump, but many of them are single issue voters, and some were anxious when they went to the ballot box this year. Roe’s overturn had made abortion politically toxic, and they were unsure what their footing was with the former president.

Yet they trusted that if elected, Trump would once again head a pro-life administration, and they remembered that he was the most pro-life president the United States had ever seen — the man who appointed the justices who overturned Roe v. Wade.

And many of those present at the March for Life on Friday told The Daily Wire that his actions in this first week of his presidency alone have reassured them that the Trump-Vance administration will defend life throughout the next four years.

On Thursday, Trump pardoned 23 pro-life activists targeted by President Joe Biden’s administration for their pro-life advocacy. On Friday evening, shortly after the March for Life had ended, Trump signed an executive order aboard Air Force One banning international non-governmental organizations that promote abortions from receiving federal funding. His action reinstates the Mexico City Policy — a serious priority for many pro-lifers.

And the president himself sent a video message to the march, as he traveled to view the damage that flooding and wildfires had done to North Carolina and California.

“In my second term, we will again stand proudly for families and for life,” Trump promised the crowd, praising the “tireless work and devotion” of the pro-life movement for helping to defeat Roe v. Wade, struck down by the Supreme Court in June 2022. He slammed Democratic extremism on abortion, pointing out that many Democrat-led states and lawmakers embrace abortion up until birth — and even allowing babies to die if they are born alive in botched abortions.

That message concluded: “To all of the very special people marching today in this bitter cold, I know your hearts are warm and your spirits are strong, because your mission is just very, very pure, to forge a society that welcomes and protects every child as a beautiful gift from the hand of our creator. Thank you for never losing hope and never giving up. Thank you for your tremendous support, God bless you, and God bless America.”

Vance emphasized his support and belief in the movement as well.

“You guys are the beating heart of the pro-life movement, and you have saved many lives already, and you’re going to save more again,” Vance told the pro-life movement on Friday. “You being here, this very march is a reminder of the incredible strength and unity of the pro-life movement and from the bottom of my heart, thank you, thank you for being here, and thank you for marching here today.”

“Most importantly, in your works, you remind us that the March for Life is not just a single event that happens on a frigid January day,” he said. “The March for Life is the work of the pro-life movement every single day from this point forward.”

 

(Originally published in Daily Wire)

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Trump, Vance speak at antiabortion March for Life rally in D.C.

(WASHINGTON POST) — Thousands turned out and sent a message to Trump — a complicated figure for the antiabortion movement.

Nearly three years after the U.S. Supreme Court knocked down federal abortion rights, and only days after the self-described “most pro-life president ever” reentered the White House, thousands of antiabortion demonstrators marched to the U.S. Capitol on Friday for the 52nd March for Life.

But even bolstered by Donald Trump’s reelection and a new ruling GOP trifecta, the annual rite found the antiabortion movement at a crossroads, still working to stake out a new front line in a shifting fight over abortion access.

In a video address played Friday to the frigid, wind-whipped crowd, Trump reiterated his antiabortion record but stopped short of promising to pursue restricting abortion access.

“In my second term we will again stand proud for families and for the rights of the unborn,” shielding them from “radical left attacks on churches and crisis centers,” Trump said. “We will get them to justice one way or another.”

On the eve of the rally, he pardoned 23 people who were convicted of blocking access to reproductive health clinics, fulfilling another campaign promise to reward political supporters who have run afoul of the law. And on Friday, the Justice Department said it would scale back Biden-era efforts to prosecute demonstrators who interfere with patient access to the clinics.

The crowd’s biggest reaction at the march, however, came after Trump’s image faded from the monitor and Vice President JD Vance took the stage. In his first public appearance since taking office, Vance positioned what has long been among the nation’s most divisive social issues as a problem intertwined with economic struggle — a theme that helped power the Republican ticket to dominance last November.

“It is the task of our government to make it easier for young moms and dads to afford to have kids,” Vance said. “It should be easier to raise a family, easier to find a good job, easier to build a home to raise that family in, easier to save up and purchase a good stroller or a crib for a nursery.”

The messaging was echoed by many speakers Friday, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) — who told the crowd Dobbs did not signal the fight’s end; the battle was to change American culture itself.

“People have asked me if we are done marching in Washington because Roe versus Wade was overturned,” Jennie Bradley Lichter, president-elect of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, told the crowd at the start of the rally. “No, of course not, we are not done. We will keep marching until abortion is not only illegal but unthinkable. We have so much work left to do.”

Since Dobbs, a handful of states have set their own restrictions, and as of October, one in three women ages 18 to 44 live in a state where abortion is banned or mostly banned. Yet research has found that the number of abortions in the United States increased in 2023 as more people accessed medication-induced abortions to end unwanted pregnancies.

A national exit poll conducted by Edison Research from the 2024 election shows that 65 percent of Americans said abortion should be legal in most cases, while 31 percent said it should be mostly or always illegal. Notably, Trump won 29 percent support among voters who supported abortion rights, along with 91 percent of those who opposed legal abortion, the poll showed.

“Polling has suggested they’re not winning the battle for hearts and minds anymore,” abortion movement historian Mary Ziegler said of antiabortion activists. “In that sense, the movement finds itself at a crossroads.”

Since the fall of Roe, antiabortion groups have sharpened their focus on pressing federal lawmakers to defund Planned Parenthood and launched legal efforts to restrict access to mifepristone, a widely used abortion medication. March for Life has marches planned in 17 states in 2025, according to its website.

States have staked out vastly different positions, with the most conservative banning all or most abortions. This month, Maryland enshrined the right to abortion access in the state’s constitution.

Bob Craig, 65, a deacon who traveled to the march with a group of Massachusetts parishes, said this year marked at least his 10th March for Life. He said the sense of unity kept him coming back. Today, Craig said he was particularly interested to hear from Vance.

“Politics aside, it’s comforting to know we have that kind of voice in the vice president’s office advocating for us,” Craig said, agreeing with Trump’s assessment that abortion is an issue best left to the states. He said he thought a federal abortion ban would go against the Constitution.

“I believe that people get to make their own decisions in terms of state government, but now this shifts the responsibility to make good choices at a state level in their legislation against abortion.”

Organizers expected up to 150,000 demonstrators, according to a National Parks Services permit application. The agency does not document crowd sizes. The area of the Washington Monument grounds cordoned off was nearly full Friday, and buses of high school students, college ministry groups and seniors alike who traveled to the nation’s capital to demonstrate.

The Patriot Front, a white supremacist organization, also joined the march, holding a banner that declared: “Strong families make strong nations.” A live stream shared on X by News2Share’s Ford Fischer showed the group marching by the Washington Monument while carrying flagpoles with an upside down American flag, the Betsy Ross flag and a flag with the group’s logo. At one point, several teenage boys or young adult men walked past the group and gave members a fist bump.

Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, condemned the group’s presence in a statement: “March for Life promotes the beauty, dignity, and worth of every human life by working to end the violence of abortion. We condemn any organization that seeks to exclude a person or group of people based on the color of their skin or any other characteristic.”

Vance’s keynote address directly urged the crowd to think culturally, but also noted the government had a role to play in helping families.

“We failed a generation by not only permitting a culture of abortion on demand but neglecting to help young parents achieve what they need to have a happy and meaningful life,” he said. “We need a culture that celebrates life at all stages and truly believes the benchmark of national successes is not our GDP numbers or our stock market, but whether people feel they can raise healthy and thriving families in our country.”

For Liberty University students Evan Gaitonde, 18, and Bo Bishop, 19, the vice president’s pro-family message hit home.

“He knows what it’s like to be a father, he knows the joys of parenthood, and he wants to spread that to the generation of today to encourage us,” said Bishop, who was among the more than 1,000 students the Christian university bussed in.

“When I have kids one day I hope they get this kind of love and support from the community,” Gaitonde said.

Leaving the staging area, Gloria O’Brien, 66, stood out from the crowd in a sequined black beret with a gold sticker on the back reading “Made in the womb.”

The Guatemalan native said she found the level of controversy over abortion to be shocking when she arrived in the United States in her 30s.

“In Guatemala, every family loves babies,” she said. “When I hear that people are rejecting the babies, I was like, ‘why?’”

She and her husband, Gregory O’Brien, 60, are retired and living in a small town in Colorado. They said they were excited to attend their first antiabortion march.

As a former public school superintendent in Los Angeles County, Gregory O’Brien said he has been moved by watching young people grow throughout his career, and feels compelled to protect that potential.

While he said he’d love to see some federal policy changes under Trump, or more state constraints on abortion, it’s more of a new mentality among the American public that he’s after.

The goal is “to make it unthinkable,” he said.

(Originally published in Washington Post)