WASHINGTON (AP) — These are heady times for participants in the annual March for Life. Anti-abortion protesters gathered for decades to challenge an appeal of Roe v. Wade, who had put forward a constitutional right to abortion. Now, with the repeal of Roe in 2022, they are now more inside than outside. With Donald Trump returning to the White House and Republicans controlling Congress, activists are looking to build on their victories. Thousands gathered Friday to hear Vice President JD Vance, who was scheduled to address them personally, and President Trump, who was scheduled 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 very special. We just went through the first presidential election since the Dobbs decision. There is a trifecta of pro-life Republicans in the White House, House and Senate. “
Despite the chilly weather, a festive atmosphere marked the early part of the march as activists gathered wearing multi-colored hats and carrying signs chanting “Life is our revolution” and “MAGA: Make Abortion Away.”
Kristen Cooper, 21, was among several thousand Students for Life in attendance. She said she was particularly excited to be marching with “pro-life Republicans” at the White House.
She said this March will be her fourth, but the first with a Republican administration. “It’s actually surreal.”
Anna Henderson, a teacher at a Catholic high school near Jackson, Michigan, also attended her fourth March with a busload of her students.
“Just because we have the support of the administration doesn’t mean the fight is over,” she said. “We still have to change people’s hearts.”
The march has taken place annually since 1974. It comes after the president pardoned several activists convicted of blocking abortion clinic entrances.
Abortion was largely missing from the pile of dozens of executive actions in Trump’s first days in office. But he has already made quieter abortion moves, including ousting several right-to-life activists and using language related to fetal personhood in an executive order rolling back protections for transgender people.
House Speaker Mike Johnson celebrated these moves as evidence: “This new White House is already showing its resolve.”
“It’s a new golden age for America,” Johnson told the crowd Friday.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said they would do so despite the Supreme Court’s decision. “There is no silver bullet to end abortion,” she said. “The march now ends at the back of the U.S. Capitol to remind our representatives that abortion is not just a state issue, but also a local issue and a federal issue as well.”
Hawkins added that she would like to see Trump defund Planned Parenthood and focus more on ensuring women with unplanned pregnancies have the resources to have the child, such as:
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 fight over abortion since the 2022 decision has been in state courts and at the ballot box, with voters in seven states approving ballot measures for constitutional reproductive freedom amendments in November and more states seeing ballot measures in the coming years.
Legislatures have already pushed back with proposals that could make such measures harder to pass.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated defeating an abortion rights amendment in the 2024 March for Life and boasted about his role in the state-funded campaign against the measure. Voters there supported a state constitutional amendment repealing the ban, but Florida requires 60% to pass constitutional amendments in the state. Most states require a basic majority.
“Most elected officials will say ‘look, what’s on the ballot is not their problem – the people can decide,'” DeSantis told the crowd. And they wash their hands of it and go away. He added, “We didn’t want to just sit around in Florida and do nothing.”
The March, which began in 1974, has drawn thousands to the city for decades. It will end in front of the Supreme Court building.
Jennie Bradley Lichter, the president-elect of the March for Life, energizes the movement and signals that the problem of protecting unborn children is not solved.
“Regardless of what they said on the campaign trail to win an election, this shows their intentions to continue attacking abortion access,” abortion rights opponents.
“Every time one of these has taken place since the Dobbs decision, it has been a day to reflect on how much harm has been caused by that decision and the crisis we continue to live through.”
Ellie Smeal, president and founder of the Feminist Majority Base, said members of the group will oppose the Rotting Protocol in March.
“We want to remind people of the popularity of abortion rights and the importance of this issue for women and men to support people making their own reproductive health decisions,” she said.
The march brings a turbulent march, celebrations of Trump’s inauguration and executive actions by the president, including ending diversity efforts in the federal government.
