WASHINGTON (RNS) — Gathering for the annual March for Life on the National Mall on Friday (Jan. 23), the anti-abortion demonstrators from every corner of the country listened patiently as the event’s organizers praised Vice President JD Vance, who addressed the march, and the Trump administration in general. But the tensions that have bubbled up in recent days over President Trump’s commitment to fighting abortion were not difficult to discern in the crowd.
“@therealdonaldtrump We are not ‘flexible.’ Abortion is Murder!” read one sign, referring to Trump’s recent comments that House Republicans should be flexible on the Hyde Amendment, a policy that bans federal funds being spent to provide abortions.
Holding the sign was Tyler Skywalker, a member of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, a Presbyterian Church in America congregation in Orlando, Florida. His wife, Noelle, said their faith motivated them to attend the march. “We’re taught in Scripture that every human is made in the image of God. That gives us intrinsic value. Murdering of that life is wrong,” she said.
Trump’s comments about Hyde have brought the greatest backlash on op-ed pages, but there is also a feeling in the anti-abortion movement that the administration has taken insufficient action on issues that have become frontline concerns since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, primarily restricting access to mifepristone, a drug largely used for abortions. But those who believe the post-Roe fight is a spiritual battle for hearts and minds also want more from anti-abortion politicians.
Vance appealed to this sentiment when he told the crowd that “building a culture of life requires persuasion.”
Vance also repeated the announcement, made earlier this week, that he and his wife, Usha, are expecting a fourth child, touting the news as evidence that family life had become financially easier under the Trump administration.
Vice President JD Vance speaks at a rally ahead of the March for Life in Washington, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
“When (Usha) and I were having the debate about whether we were going to have a fourth kid, I said, honey, we’ve got an expanded child tax credit, and we’ve got the Trump accounts. We got to take advantage of this stuff,” he said.
March organizers and Vance highlighted three recent federal policies as wins for the anti-abortion movement: expanded restrictions on foreign grant recipients who receive U.S. funds to prevent them from promoting abortion, the reinstatement of a ban from Trump’s first term on the use of human fetal issue in National Institutes of Health-funded research, and an investigation into COVID-19 economic relief funds going to Planned Parenthood.
Vance acknowledged “a fear that some of you have, that not enough progress has been made, that not enough has happened in the political arena.” But he argued that the movement had taken “tremendous strides” over the last year and decade.
“I want you to know that I hear you,” he said. “We’re going to have open conversations about how best to use our political system to advance life, how prudential we must be, and the cause of advancing human life.”
Vance portrayed the anti-abortion movement as defenders, not just of life but of Western Christian culture. “Scripture tells us that each life is fearfully and wonderfully made by our creator,” he said. “As important as all this politics stuff is, it is about whether we will remain a civilization under God, or whether we ultimately return to the paganism that dominated the past.”
Anti-abortion demonstrators walk to the Supreme Court during the annual March for Life, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
John Allen, a Catholic from Raleigh, North Carolina, said he was “very encouraged” and felt that Vance has “definitely got his heart in the right place.” Citing recent abortion-related news on conservative Catholic and political outlets, he had become “concerned” about Trump being open to “compromise on life,” but said he had come to attribute the president’s comments to a negotiating position.
“I’m pretty confident in going forward that we will be going in the right direction,” said Allen, who prays every Monday in front of an abortion clinic. Beginning to tear up, he said he believes that hearts will change and a future is coming where “abortion will be unthinkable.”
John Hessey, who wore a red Make America Great Again hat and described himself as a nondenominational Christian who attends a Church of God, told Religion News Service that Trump needs to take more concerted action on reproductive issues. “He’s not stopping the pill,” Hessey said. “He can stop that today. He’s done a lot of executive orders. He can do one for that too.”
Tyler Skywalker holds a sign during the March for Life, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Washington. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
Kristi Hillier, a Catholic who volunteers at pregnancy crisis centers, told RNS she was concerned that the Trump administration might be “backpedaling,” saying she hoped that the states, which were empowered to pass their own abortion laws in the wake of Roe’s demise, would take more action to “end abortions.” Speaking about her own experience having an abortion, “That’s a regret I deal with every day. I know the effects of it, and the lies that were told because of it.”
Catholic Bishop Joseph Strickland, whom Pope Francis removed as the leader of the Diocese of Tyler, Texas, after a formal investigation of his management, told RNS that the Trump administration’s record has been “mixed.” He explained, “I’m grateful for the progress that’s been made but there’s much more work to be done,” citing mifepristone and assisted suicide laws.
“It’s mostly about moving hearts to the truth that comes from God,” said Strickland, which he said could be accomplished through prayer, proclaiming “the truth with love” and helping people.
Others echoed the desire to change minds through non-political means. Sister Marie Benedict, director of youth ministry at St. Philip the Apostle Catholic Church in Falls Church, Virginia, said the March for Life is more a spiritual experience akin to a “pilgrimage” than primarily a political experience.
The sister of the Franciscan Sisters of the Eucharist said that she has brought high schoolers to the march for years. “There’s something about being part of your peers and being part of something that’s bigger,” she said. “There’s prayer involved, there’s sacrifice involved, there’s some discomfort involved.”
What is needed, said Sr. Marie Benedict, is a “cultural change,” explaining, “It is a good time for a reflection and prayer on what are the relationships in my life right now where I need to hold the dignity in life and support people so that all of us collectively can work together towards upholding human rights and justice.”
In a written message to the march, Pope Leo XIV, who organizers said attended the March for Life in college, said young people were key to the success of the movement. “I would encourage you, especially the young people, to continue striving to ensure that life is respected in all of its stages through appropriate efforts at every level of society, including dialogue with civil and political leaders,” he wrote.
Some, such as the Rehumanize International group at the March for Life, advocated for a more expansive idea of life issues. One member of the group, Sterling Miller, said, “I think all of the different issues are interconnected too, like abortion, the death penalty, euthanasia, war. They’re all attacks on the sanctity of human life.”
People attend the annual March for Life, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Washington. (RNS photo/Aleja Hertzler-McCain)
He included the actions taken by federal agents under mass deportation policies. He held a sign calling for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement that read “ICE cruelty kills the unborn too.” A Mennonite whose church is part of the LMC fellowship, Miller said “unborn children have been killed” by ICE, both by the agency facilitating abortions and also through the mistreatment of pregnant people who are incarcerated and not given proper health care.
But everywhere in the crowd could be found indications of how the end of Roe has exposed diverse visions, and higher demands, from abortion opponents.
The Rev. Stephen Imbarrato, a retired Catholic priest from the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, New Mexico, also sees the anti-abortion movement as rooted in human rights. Adopting the “abolitionist” belief that the 14th Amendment’s equal protection rights should be extended to the moment of conception by the Supreme Court, Imbarrato said, “We are today in the 21st century version of 1858 post-Dred Scott, pre-Civil War America. We need to abolish abortion immediately,” he said.
