March for Life rally unfolding in Washington, with Vance to make first public appearance since inauguration
Thousands of pro-life activists are expected to descend on Washington, D.C., on Friday for the annual March for Life, with organizers saying they look forward to working with President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance to "dismantle the Biden Administration’s aggressive and unpopular abortion agenda."
Vance is scheduled to speak at the event in what will be his first public appearance since being sworn into office earlier this week. It begins at noon local time with a rally on the Washington Monument grounds.
"We are thrilled that Vice President Vance has chosen the National March for Life for his first public appearance in his new role -- a sign of his commitment to standing up for life," March for Life President Jeanne Mancini and March for Life President-elect Jennie Bradley Lichter said in a joint statement.
"President Trump governed as a pro-life president during his first term which resulted in a long list of accomplishments. We look forward to working with him and Vice President Vance as they dismantle the Biden Administration’s aggressive and unpopular abortion agenda and once again put wins on the board for vulnerable unborn children and their mothers," they added.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and American surfer Bethany Hamilton also are scheduled to speak at the event.
Trump – who will be visiting North Carolina on Friday to survey damage from September’s Hurricane Helene – became the first sitting president to address the March for Life rally in 2020. He is expected to address today’s event through video.
"I'm going to be watching it and JD Vance our Vice President is there and he is going to be representing us very well," Trump told reporters Friday morning while departing Washington.
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"Even with the wonderful blessing of Roe v. Wade being overturned, which allows more freedom at the state level to enact pro-life laws, the necessary work to build a culture of life in the United States of America is not finished," the March for Life’s organizers say.
"The goal of the national March for Life is to not only change laws at the state and federal level, but to change the culture to ultimately make abortion unthinkable," they add.
The organizers are expecting around 150,000 attendees at this year’s event.
The march is unfolding just hours after Trump pardoned pro-life activists convicted of blockading abortion clinic entrances.
"As you know I just signed a pardon and in the pardon we released 23 people that were unjustly put in, having to do with pro-life," Trump said Friday. "They will be released and they will be out very shortly. It was disgraceful what happened to them."