President Trump is no longer expected to call in remarks to the annual March for Life event in Washington, D.C., on Friday. A White House spokesperson has confirmed with the Washington Examiner that a call is not on the president’s schedule.
CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller tweeted out Thursday evening that Trump would speak to participants of the event. NBC News’ Peter Alexander had also reported it.
A major anti-abortion group, the Susan B. Anthony List, also tweeted out that Trump will be calling in to the event, but later deleted the message.
Presidents Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush are the only chief executives to have addressed the anti-abortion march. They did it remotely.
On Thursday it was revealed that Vice President Mike Pence will be the highest ranking White House official to speak at the event Friday in person. CNN reports that White House Senior Counsel Kellyanne Conway will also speak at the event.
The March for Life has been held every year since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in its 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, and typically draws hundreds of thousands of protesters attend.
During his campaign, Trump expressed support, in the Washington Examiner and elsewhere, for more limitations on abortions, with some exceptions in instances of rape, incest and when the life of the mother is in danger.
In his first week as president, Trump signed an executive order to reinstate the “Mexico City policy,” which bans federal funding of abortions overseas.
