The tension between anti-abortion advocates and the Republican Party looms large as demonstrators gather in Washington for the 53rd annual March for Life rally on Friday.
Anti-abortion activists have increasingly publicly criticized President Donald Trump for departing from anti-abortion priorities during the first year of his second term, particularly on limiting the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone and cutting federal funding for abortions through Obamacare.
The Trump administration announced several new initiatives that are lower-level priorities for anti-abortion voters, including an expansion of the Mexico City policy that prohibits federal funding for abortion advocacy overseas and ending federal funding for research that uses aborted fetal tissue.
The Small Business Administration also launched a review of whether Planned Parenthood affiliates illegally received $88 million in COVID-19-era loans for both abortion and diversity, equity, and inclusion projects.
But anti-abortion advocates have had a tenuous relationship with the Trump administration since he led Republicans to drop the long-standing anti-abortion language from the GOP platform during the 2024 election cycle.
Growing tensions culminated earlier this month when Trump told a convening of House Republicans to be “flexible on Hyde” in upcoming health spending bill negotiations, referencing the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal spending on abortion except in rare circumstances of rape, incest, or life-threatening conditions for the mother.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, said in a press release on Thursday that, although the organization is pleased the administration announced the new policies, the top priorities for the movement are tightening regulations on abortion pills and protecting the Hyde Amendment.
“Abortion drugs and the forced taxpayer funding of abortion are the most urgent issues affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands,” Dannenfelser said.
Dannenfelser previously told the Washington Examiner that if GOP members listened to Trump’s call for flexibility on Hyde, it would “betray the pro-life movement” and jeopardize the support of the anti-abortion bloc in the 2026 midterm elections.
Lila Rose, head of the anti-abortion group Live Action, told the Washington Examiner that being flexible on Hyde protections would be a “red line” and “absolutely unacceptable,” but she noted that the president signed an executive order enforcing the sentiment of the Hyde amendment through all federal health policy.
Abortion pill regulations stall
Rose said that she is more focused on the Trump administration’s lack of action on the abortion pill mifepristone, which the Food and Drug Administration deregulated to remove in-person screening requirements during former President Joe Biden’s tenure.
Anti-abortion advocates point to two white papers published in April 2025 that found the complication rate from mifepristone is 22 times higher than the listed rate from the FDA, with roughly 11% of women facing possibly life-threatening complications, such as sepsis or hemorrhaging.
FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised during their Senate confirmation hearings last spring that they would be conducting an in-depth safety review of mifepristone following the deregulation of the pill by the Biden administration.
But anti-abortion advocates were dismayed this fall when the FDA approved a generic version of mifepristone, which they say will only cause abortion rates to increase. Advocates have gone so far as to call for Makary to be fired.
Republican members of both chambers of Congress have also, in recent weeks, ramped up their calls on the administration to take action on reinstituting in-person dispensing requirements for the pill, which advocates say makes it significantly safer for patients.
Rose said that she wants to see abortion pills taken off the market completely, which she said would be a credible commitment to the anti-abortion bloc within the GOP heading into the midterm elections.
“If the administration wants to galvanize the pro-life base before the midterms, it absolutely should be removing the abortion pill from the market,” Rose said.
Strain on display
Vice President JD Vance and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) are scheduled to speak at the rally on the National Mall ahead of the march toward the Supreme Court steps on Friday morning.
Vance told reporters ahead of the March on Thursday that the best way to advance the anti-abortion message is to win elections and to take the time to make a solid case to pro-abortion-rights voters.
But it is unclear whether Vance will be met with open arms from rally attendees.
Catholic International University professor David Bonaguara went as far as to write an opinion piece for Catholic Culture telling March for Life attendees to boo Vance’s appearance to demonstrate the movement’s displeasure with the Trump administration.
Kristen Day, chief of the anti-abortion group Democrats for Life of America, told the Washington Examiner that the current moment of anti-abortion advocates feeling betrayed by the GOP was inevitable.
Day said that the anti-abortion movement aligned itself too closely with the Republican Party following a debate over whether to include Hyde Amendment language in Obamacare in 2010.
In the 2010 midterm elections, almost all anti-abortion Democrats lost their seats as anti-abortion groups such as Susan B. Anthony backed GOP challengers.
At the time, Day said it would backfire for anti-abortion advocates to align themselves too closely with the GOP since bipartisanship is necessary to move meaningful legislation. More than 15 years later, she says that prediction has come to fruition.
“You need that crossover,” Day said. “Especially if you’re looking at the Senate like you need 60 votes, and if you’re only counting on Republicans to pass pro-life legislation, you’re never going to get things done.”
OBAMACARE DOOMED PRO-LIFE DEMOCRATS. SAME FOR THE GOP?
Dannenfelser said in her Thursday press release that the March for Life this year will give the GOP the opportunity “to recommit to its promises on Life.”
“They must stand firm on these basic pro-life tenets or depress the base and risk losing the midterms,” Dannenfelser said.
White House correspondents Mabinty Quarshie and Christian Datoc contributed to this report.
