Trump, Vance to address March for Life crowd after pardoning anti-abortion protesters
WASHINGTON (AP) — These are heady times for participants in the annual March for Life. Anti-abortion protestors gathered for decades to call for an appeal of Roe v. Wade, which had provided a constitutional right for an abortion. Now, with the repeal of Roe in 2022, they are now on the inside rather than the outside. With Donald Trump’s return to the White House and Republicans in control of Congress, the activists want to build on their victories. Thousands gathered Friday to hear Vice President JD Vance, who was scheduled to address them in person, and President Trump, who was to appear in a pre-recorded message.
“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. We have just been through the first presidential election since the Dobbs decision. There is a trifecta of pro-life Republicans in the White House and the House and the Senate.”
Despite frigid weather, a festive atmosphere marked the early part of the march, as activists gathered with multicolored hats and signs declaring “Life is our revolution.”
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 “pro-life Republicans” in the White House.
She said this march was her fourth but the first with a Republican administration. “It’s surreal actually.”
The march has been held annually since 1974. It comes after the president pardoned several activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances.
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 pardoning several right to life activists and using wording related to fetal personhood in an executive order rolling back protections for transgender people.
During his campaign, Trump offered vague and contradictory answers to questions on abortion, and attempted to distance himself from anti-abortion allies by deferring to states on abortion policy, even as he boasted about nominating three Supreme Court justices who helped strike down Roe v. Wade.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said there is still work to be done, despite the Supreme Court decision. “There’s no silver bullet to ending abortion,” she said. “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.”
Hawkins added that she’d like to see Trump defund Planned Parenthood and more focus on making sure women with unplanned pregnancies have the resources to have the child, such as paid family leave and expanded child tax care credit.
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 and more states could see ballot measures in coming years.
Legislatures have been fighting back already with proposals that could make such measures more difficult to get passed.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is one of the scheduled speakers. His state has one of the strictest abortion bans in the country at six weeks. Voters there supported a state constitutional amendment overturning the ban but Florida requires 60% to pass constitutional amendments in the state. Most states require a simple majority.
The march, which began in 1974, has drawn thousands into the city for decades. It will end in front of the Supreme Court building.
Jennie Bradley Lichter, the March for Life president-elect, said in addition to Friday’s march the group plans to be at 17 state capitals across the country in 2025. She said, in an email answer to questions, that the march continues because it provides energy for the movement and signals that the issue of protecting unborn children is not resolved.
“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.”
Ellie Smeal, president and founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation, said members of the group will be counterprotesting during the march.
“We want to remind people of the popularity of abortion rights and the importance of this issue, that women and men are supportive of people making their own reproductive health decisions,” she said.
The march brings to a close a tumultuous week of protest marches, celebrations of Trump’s inauguration and executive actions by the president, including stopping diversity efforts in the federal government.