The anti-abortion group March for Life will aim to turn abortion-rights messaging on its head with its theme for 2020.
Its theme, unveiled Tuesday, is “Life Empowers: Pro-Life is Pro-Woman.” The slogan is a response to supporters of abortion rights, who deride groups like March for Life as being “anti-woman,” and who use the “pro-woman” mantle to advocate for legal abortion.
“Ending the life of an innocent human being is being promoted as an essential to women’s freedom, to women’s empowerment, and to women’s progress. To that we say, ‘No,'” Jeanne Mancini, March for Life president, said at a press conference Tuesday.
The specific March for Life rally, set for Jan. 24, 2020, will coincide with the 100th anniversary of women winning the right to vote through the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. Every year, the march is held in protest of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, which legalized abortion nationwide.
At the press event, March for Life highlighted suffragists who opposed abortion, including Susan B. Anthony and Alice Paul.
“Abortion betrays the basic feminist principles of non-violence, non-discrimination, and justice for all,” said Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life. “Abortion is a reflection that we have not met the needs of women, and that women have settled for less.”
Gloria Purvis, chairperson for Black Catholics United for Life, said abortion was the wrong solution to issues of poverty and of women being excluded from the workplace.
“It is not empowering or freeing for us to have to kill our children in the name of equality and freedom,” Purvis said. “Freedom built on the crushed skulls of our children is not freedom — that’s oppression. And we are monsters if that’s our way of climbing to the top.”
But March for Life isn’t supporting policies that specifically affect motherhood, such as paid family leave or changing stations in college bathrooms. Instead, it supports the Born Alive Infant Child Protection Act, which clarifies that babies born alive after botched abortions must receive the same medical care as premature babies, and supports a mandate to have Obamacare insurers separate out premiums so that people receive a separate bill to cover abortions.
Republican Rep. Ann Wagner of Missouri is speaking at the rally in January. She is the main sponsor of the “Born-Alive” bill, but also has introduced legislation that would let new parents take out Social Security early to fund parental leave in exchange for delaying retirement.
March for Life has not yet announced the rest of its lineup, but two years ago President Trump addressed the rally live and last year Vice President Mike Pence made a surprise appearance. The organization also has included Democratic speakers, but finding support among Democratic members of Congress is increasingly difficult as the party has shunned members who oppose abortion rights.
