The March for Life, the nation’s primary anti-abortion protest, unveiled its theme Thursday for the first march to take place after the Supreme Court’s reversal of Roe v. Wade.
The announced theme, “Next Steps: Marching Forward in a Post-Roe America” sets the stage for the January event, which draws thousands of anti-abortion protesters to Washington, D.C., each year to commemorate the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which created a constitutional right to abortion.
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But with the Supreme Court reversing Roe in its June decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the continuity of the national march became an open question. There had also been some speculation that the march would shift to June, the month the court released its decision in Dobbs, or even that the event would cease altogether.
On Thursday, at an event at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, March for Life President Jeanne Mancini put those questions to rest, announcing that the 50th March for Life would take place on Jan. 20, 2023, and would “address … the most confusing issues in terms of building a culture of life.”
“This year, in light of our most significant victory, the overturn of Roe, we want to provide clarity about the inherent dignity of the unborn and particularly the lie that a right to abortion is good for women,” Mancini said.
https://twitter.com/TonyDungy/status/1580612276683689985?s=20&t=6feM7EnPyq1-iuPfCr1b0QMancini also announced that one of the keynote speakers for the 2023 march would be Hall of Fame NFL coach Tony Dungy. The former Indianapolis Colts coach and NBC Sports commentator wrote in a tweet Thursday that, in speaking to the event, he was “just doing what the Lord asked us to do,” before quoting a Bible verse.
Tony DungyBut while the march will continue to commemorate the now-reversed Roe ruling, Mancini announced there would be one significant change from years prior. Instead of marching from National Mall to the Supreme Court building, the protest would now conclude at the Capitol building in recognition of the legislative efforts that now dominate the conversation around abortion legality. The march did not offer specifics on exactly what kind of legislation it wants to see Congress pass, and there is a wide range of opinions among congressional Republicans about what kind of anti-abortion measures should be enacted.
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Referring to the number of abortions since the Roe decision, Mancini said: “53 million Americans is a scar on our culture’s history, on our country’s history, and it’s not something that will quickly move past. While we celebrate that we’re at this new moment, we don’t not … commemorate D-Day because we got past World War II. So we will continue to march in January.”
The March for Life has invested significant resources in recent months in organizing marches in state capitals across the country. In a press release, the organization said this effort was a recognition that “the battle for life must be fought on two fronts now: state and federal.”
“Those who have been paying attention know that the battle at the federal level has only intensified since the historic Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health decision. Already pro-abortion politicians in the U.S. House and Senate have voted in favor of the most radical expansion of abortion in American history, a bill deceptively named the Women’s Health Protection Act,” the organization said. “Going beyond Roe, it would eliminate parental-consent laws. We can’t afford to abandon the fight at the federal level now.”
Kevin Roberts, the president of the Heritage Foundation, vowed his organization, “the mothership of the conservative movement,” would “be your accountability partner on ending abortion, period, in our lifetimes, in the United States of America.”
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Roberts called for “building institutions that know what love is and what life is,” which he said would help build stronger families and communities, and ultimately a stronger nation, and encouraged viewers of the event to avoid becoming discouraged.
“You can always trust the American people to do the right thing,” he said. “Do not be discouraged by public opinion. Do not be discouraged by the lack of political courage that our friends in this movement sometimes display, pray for them, politically fight for them, be with them, and ultimately, let us build our families,[and] let us build our communities.”
