An estimated 50,000 Americans gathered in the nation’s capital on Friday for the 2022 March for Life. I had the privilege of joining them, arriving in Washington, D.C., that morning with 150 other pro-life college students from my home state of Michigan.
The March for Life brings people together from across the country from different economic, ethnic, racial, religious, and social backgrounds. Despite these differences, however, what I saw uniting all pro-life Americans on Friday was one thing in particular: hope.
It wasn’t the first time I’d found hope at the center of the March for Life — I attended in 2019 and 2020 when the pro-life movement was excited by the appointment of several Supreme Court justices who seemed likely to overturn Roe v. Wade if the opportunity arose.
Now, in 2022, the hope that Roe will be overturned looks like a genuine possibility. A new abortion-related court case, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, has been taken up by the Supreme Court and will likely be decided this June. The case arose when the abortion facility challenged the constitutionality of Mississippi’s Gestational Age Act in 2018, which prohibited abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy except in cases of medical emergencies or fetal abnormalities. If the court sides with Mississippi, it may put a dent in Roe’s legacy and even overturn the infamous 1973 case entirely.
The March for Life exists to protest Roe. It’s no accident that activists walk symbolically to the Supreme Court building instead of the Capitol or the White House. Through the decades, however, the March for Life has started to represent a great deal more. National, state, and local pro-life organizations have gained traction even amid the movement’s failure to overturn Roe. Indeed, red states such as Mississippi have boldly moved forward, passing pro-life laws despite the difficulties these laws may face in court.
What, then, will become of the March for Life and the pro-life movement more broadly if the court overturns Roe? Based on my experience as an activist within my own college campus and community, and my time in Washington, D.C., it’s fair to say both will live on — just in different ways. Instead of emphasizing the Supreme Court, the national March for Life’s primary purpose will be to show the world it can’t ignore abortion. The March will send a message to all three branches of the national government that if they are to get involved in abortion at all, they had better restrict it. If the government truly does exist to protect life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, it is well within the just powers of the federal government to protect the most essential of these rights.
If as many predict, the national government is set to stay out of abortion altogether, the new focus of the pro-life movement will be in every state where life in the womb remains unprotected. As some red states will ban abortion altogether, many blue states will remain as pro-choice as ever. So, while strategies will be altered and resources reallocated, the fight for all people, regardless of size, level of development, or degree of dependency, will go on.
The American pro-life movement will endure as long as the murder of unborn children continues. The theme of the 2022 March for Life was “Equality Begins in the Womb,” and the pro-life movement will not stop until America lives up to her ideals of human equality before the law.
Ruth Moreno is a senior at Hillsdale College and the vice president of Hillsdale College for Life.
