President Trump made a triumphant return to the March for Life on Friday, addressing the nation’s largest anti-abortion demonstration via video.
Cheers greeted the Republican president’s prerecorded appearance at the 52nd annual march, his first since his Supreme Court nominees helped overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022. Mr. Trump, who spoke at the march by livestream video in 2018, expressed pride in being the only sitting president to address the protest in person, which he did in 2020.
“To forge a society that welcomes and protects every child is a beautiful gift from the hand of our creator,” Mr. Trump, who was touring disaster areas in North Carolina and California on Friday, told the enthusiastic crowd on the National Mall before they set off for the Supreme Court.
The president took credit for the high court’s Dobbs ruling as a “vote of the people” that returned abortion policy to state control.
He also touted the pardons he signed Thursday for 23 pro-life activists the Biden Justice Department had convicted for obstructing access to abortion clinics, expanding on a 1994 federal law designed to prosecute people who attack pregnancy centers.
Mr. Trump received a warm reception from thousands of pro-life activists from around the country who braved frosty temperatures to attend the noon rally near the Washington Monument. The rally preceded an icy walk in frigid sunlight along Constitution Avenue to the steps of the high court.
“Even though abortion is up to the states now, we want to make sure our message is still heard in Washington,” said Danica Cobian, a 17-year-old senior attending her second march with a group of 45 students from Bishop Verot Catholic High School in Fort Myers, Florida.
In-person speakers at the rally included Vice President J.D. Vance, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, all Republicans.
They praised the presidential pardons and invoked God, the founding fathers and science to justify their position that human life begins with a fertilized egg in the womb that deserves legal protections.
Mr. Vance said the government has a responsibility to make child-rearing more affordable and accessible. He referred to his wife, Usha, and called their three children “the single greatest blessing” of their lives.
“I want more babies in the United States of America,” Mr. Vance said. “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.”
The Republican lawmakers touted legislative efforts to restrict abortion nationally, and Rep. Chris Smith, New Jersey Republican, called on the president to cancel federal subsidies to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the fight may be long, but we have the truth on our side and I am confident that at the end of the day truth will win, life will win,” Mr. Thune, South Dakota Republican, told the crowd.
Mr. Johnson touted the president’s recent pardons and noted that language in a recent executive order on gender identity defined life as starting at conception.
“And of course, my friends, it is a new golden age in America and now we have President Donald J. Trump back in the White House,” the House speaker told the cheering crowd. “We are entering a new era.”
Other Republican lawmakers appearing on the rally stage included Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst and Maryland Rep. Andy Harris. Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry also attended.
Mr. DeSantis touted Florida’s recent vote against a pro-choice ballot measure that would have overturned the state’s law banning abortions when a fetal heartbeat is detectable, despite a major Democratic push to support it.
“We had a responsibility to lead the charge and do something that most people said was impossible,” Mr. DeSantis said.
Enhanced security for the vice president moved Friday’s rally from its recent location to an enclosed space near the Washington Monument, where Secret Service officers screened protesters for weapons. Several of the speeches ran long, delaying the 1 p.m. start of the march by nearly an hour.
Pro-lifers have labored in recent years to redefine the purpose of the March for Life, which started as a protest against the Roe decision that legalized abortion nationally on Jan. 22, 1973.
This year’s theme stressed “acknowledging the humanity of each person, while also highlighting the need to protect and support both mother and child through the thousands of resources available to them.”
“The pro-life movement is at its heart with everyone and for every child,” March for Life President Jeanne Mancini told rallygoers.
Bethany Hamilton, a professional surfer who lost an arm in a shark attack, urged rallygoers during a keynote address to resist the lie that “death is better than life.”
Some recent public opinion surveys have shown national abortion attitudes returning to the status quo that held sway before the high court returned abortion policy to the states in June 2022.
Several speakers touted an annual Knights of Columbus-Marist poll released Thursday that found attitudes on the issue substantially unchanged, with around 6 in 10 adults supporting legalized abortion with some restrictions.
Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, roughly half of states have moved to restrict abortion and half have moved to expand access.
Despite Mr. Trump’s insistence on keeping abortion policy at the state level, pro-life activists and their allies in Congress have continued pushing for national restrictions. On Wednesday, Senate Democrats defeated a Republican bill that would have required doctors to care for babies born alive after failed abortions.
Participants in this year’s march were divided on whether the abortion issue should be left to state policy and legal debates.
“I was sad when Congress didn’t pass the born alive bill and I want to keep fighting for that,” said Charlene Peters, 39, who flew from Wichita, Kansas, to attend her first march.
“I would support a constitutional amendment banning abortion from conception, but it’s not realistic,” added Eric Martin, a 38-year-old activist from York, Pennsylvania.
Jamiee Canfield, a 25-year-old youth minister who traveled with 40 teenagers from Epiphany of the Lord Catholic Church in Tampa, Florida, said she agreed with the president that abortion policy should be decided at the local level.
“If you want a pro-life culture, you have to change hearts and minds starting in your community,” said Ms. Canfield, who was attending her fifth march.
She said it was especially meaningful that she was pregnant at the protest this year.
“I’m marching for my children and my children’s children,” Ms. Canfield said.
In their permit applications to the National Park Service, organizers estimated 50,000 people for the rally and 100,000 people for the march, the same as in past years.
The raucous crowd on the ground Friday appeared larger than last year’s gathering, perhaps buoyed by Mr. Trump’s return to power.
Line Nde, a 44-year-old pastor’s wife from Denton, Texas, said she came to Washington for Mr. Trump’s inauguration and decided to stay to attend her first march.
“As a woman of faith, I counsel women to put their babies up for adoption if they don’t want them,” said Ms. Nde, who emigrated to the U.S. from Cameroon. “We have a pro-life president and we need to keep the babies safe.”
Christianity and politics were joined once again in this year’s march. Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City, a representative of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, led a group of Roman Catholic and Orthodox Christian bishops in prayer on the rally stage.
“May this culture of life bring fresh energy to pro-life initiatives in every part of this nation,” the archbishop prayed.
Chloe Chandler, a 22-year-old communications major at Brigham Young University, said her passion for the issue inspired her to attend her first march with several hundred undergraduates from Students for Life of America.
“We’re here to call on President Trump to defund Planned Parenthood,” Ms. Chandler said. “It’s really cool to see all these people here because it’s been a bucket list item of mine.”
• Sean Salai can be reached at ssalai@washingtontimes.com.