EXCLUSIVE — Jeanne Mancini, outgoing president of March for Life, told the the Washington Examiner that she is “just delighted” that former Sen. Marco Rubio was confirmed as secretary of state, even though it meant Congress lost a top anti-abortion legislator, saying that his leadership in foreign affairs will be a boon for the movement.
Mancini has been at the helm of the March for Life organization since the fall of 2012, but she is stepping down at the end of January following her last march as president on Friday. In her exclusive farewell interview with the Washington Examiner, Mancini said that she is happy about Rubio’s speedy confirmation.
“I think that’s a massive gain that he’s in that role,” said Mancini. “It’s a position of tremendous power. I mean, probably the most powerful position after the president in the administration.”
Rubio boasted a strong anti-abortion record during his tenure in the Senate, supporting a variety of abortion-specific policy reforms as well as pro-family policies, such as expanding the child tax credit.
As secretary of state, Rubio would have control over the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, which has a significant hand in promoting family planning and reproductive health programs abroad.
In 2017, the Trump administration established a policy known as Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance, or PLGHA, following the presidential directive that no U.S. taxpayer funding should support foreign organizations that perform or actively promote abortion as a family planning method.
Although this policy was originally established by former President Ronald Reagan and then readopted by former President George W. Bush, then called the Mexico City policy, the policy under the Trump administration expanded the directive to include not just nongovernmental organizations that received U.S. funding for family planning but all NGOs that received any U.S. health assistance.
Mancini said Rubio at the State Department would be in charge of implementing the PLGHA, describing it as “a massive job.”
“I think he’ll have greater influence as secretary of state than a senator,” said Mancini. “And so I’m sad that the Senate lost him, but I think it’s just incredible that he’ll be serving in that capacity. I can’t wait to see what he does.”
Mancini said that the March for Life has grown significantly during her tenure, expanding its state-based marches throughout the year following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision in 2022 that found that there was no federal right to abortion.
Under Mancini, the March’s influence abroad also expanded, gaining an international platform when Trump made an in-person appearance at the event in January 2017.
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“President Trump was the first president in American history to come to March for Life, and the first president to ever send a standing Vice President to the March for Life,” said Mancini. “We weren’t on the world stage to the same extent until Trump and Vice President Pence made March for Life a matter of importance.”
Trump is expected to address the March via videocast on Friday but will not be present at the event. Vice President JD Vance will be attending in person.