WASHINGTON — For this year’s National March for Life, held Jan. 24, organizers themed the annual march “Pro-Life Is Pro-Woman” to mark the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage. Organizers noted that some of the most prominent trailblazers of women’s rights, such as Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, also were against abortion.
The march is held each January in Washington to commemorate Roe v. Wade, the landmark Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion in 1973.
Thousands of people from across the country crowded the National Mall bearing signs that read “Life empowers women” and “#prolifefeminist.” The pro-woman message also shared space with plenty of “Make America Great Again” hats and other pro-Trump paraphernalia as President Donald Trump addressed the march in person, a presidential first.
Homemade signs have almost disappeared from the rally and march in recent years, but there were still quite a few with original slogans: “Make the Womb Safe Again,” “Abortion Is Health Care Like the Showers at Auschwitz Were Hygiene,” “Yo Mama Chose Life,” and, with a drawing of a fetus, “It’s Their Body, So Where’s Their Choice?”
Thousands of students attended the Youth Rally and Mass for Life at the Capital One Arena sponsored by the Archdiocese of Washington to kick off the march. Baltimore Archbishop William E. Lori was among the celebrants at the Mass.
This year’s theme was, in part, a response to the Women’s March after its massive crowds – at least in its initial years – had threatened to overshadow the March for Life. The women at the march said it was important to stress that women’s rights don’t have to be synonymous with supporting legal abortion.
“In my experience, pro-life sees the possibilities instead of the limitations,” said Lauren Opinion, a parishioner at St. Joseph in Cockeysville, Md.
Opinion, 30, finds herself in support of many progressive women’s issues such as greater access to health care, equal pay and paid maternity leave, but she’s still reluctant to call herself a feminist.
“I always used to consider myself a feminist. It’s something I struggle with because that title usually comes with a lot of secular definitions. You have to be pro-abortion,” Opinion said.
Amy Erardi, who works in the archdiocesan Respect Life office and led a Baltimore group to the march, noted that feminism has two definitions in the dictionary. Erardi prefers the first option: “The theory of the political, economic and social equality of the sexes” rather than “organized activity on behalf of women’s rights and interests.”
Opinion, a new mother and a speech pathologist, said the women’s rights movement should embrace equality for all women, including the unborn.
“Pro-life is pro-women because it recognizes women in the womb. It recognizes the choice of a girl in the womb and sees her potential,” Opinion said.
Erardi’s brand of feminism also has been informed by her work. She splits her time working in the medical field and helping women traumatized by their decision to have abortions.
“Until you see the consequences of abortion, you might not get it,” Erardi said.
Speaking for about 10 minutes at the start of the rally and before attendees began their march to the Supreme Court, Trump credited those attending the march for their commitment to protect the life of unborn and born children.
“Together we are the voice for the voiceless,” Trump told tens of thousands of people gathered at a noontime rally on the National Mall.
“You stand for life each and every day. You provide housing, education, jobs and medical care for the women that you serve,” the president said.
Trump was the first president to speak in person in the 47-year history of the March for Life.
“Today, as president of the United States, I am truly proud to stand with you. We’re here for a very simple reason: to defend the right for every child, born and unborn, to fulfill their God-given potential,” Trump said.
He also credited the young people who made up a large portion of the crowd for their commitment to life, saying they were “the heart of the March for Life.”
“It’s your generation that is making this a pro-life nation,” the president said, adding, “You are powered by prayer and motivated by pure unselfish love.”
Having Trump on the podium as a speaker at the March for Life prompted mixed opinions.
The University of Notre Dame’s O. Carter Snead said it was “a good thing when the president of the United States – whomever he or she may be – attends an event meant to celebrate and defend the intrinsic equal dignity of all persons, born and unborn.”
“But there should be no mistake – the movement to protect and support all members of the human family, including mothers and their unborn babies, transcends politics and partisanship,” he said Jan. 23.
Snead, who specializes in bioethics and is director of Notre Dame’s Center for Ethics and Culture, added that the pro-life movement “is a movement grounded in radical hospitality and unconditional love that all people of goodwill can support.”
He issued the statement the morning after March for Life officials announced that Trump would speak in person to the crowd on the National Mall Jan. 24 – becoming the first sitting president to do so.
The news that Trump would be on the speakers’ platform drew praise from March for Life officials and leaders of other pro-life organizations, who said the administration is consistently championing life, through policies to fight abortion, implementing conscience protection and the appointment of pro-life judges.
But critics said Trump’s “anti-life” policies on migrants, refugees and the poor made him ineligible to speak to a pro-life crowd.
John Gehring, Catholic program director at Faith in Public Life Action, said in a tweet that “this kind of ‘respect for life’ is partisan, selective & lacks credibility.” He also accused “anti-abortion leaders celebrating Trump attending the March for Life” of having “nothing to say about the administration’s vile, inhumane and well-documented abuse of immigrant children.”
“Anti-abortion leaders and voters who hitch their wagons to President Trump do serious damage to the credibility of the pro-life movement,” he said in another tweet.
Not all participants in the rally agreed with Trump’s single-issue stance. A group of Franciscan friars and their supporters held signs aloft outside of the security barrier with messages reading “I am 100% Pro-Life.” “Care for the Unborn.” “Protect the Earth” and “Seek Justice for the Poor.”
Franciscan Father Jacek Orzechowski of Maryland said he joined the march and rally “to remind others about what it means to be authentically pro-life.”
“It’s not enough to say that a person is against abortion, but especially about other concerns at this time when we as humanity are standing on the verge of ecological catastrophe,” he explained. “I’m not willing to fall into a false choice in caring for our common home or caring for the unborn.”
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