Where the Pro-Life Movement Goes from Here

‘With every woman, for every child” — this is the theme of the 2024 March for Life, announced earlier this week by the organization’s president, Jeanne Mancini. The “theme reveal” event, hosted at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., highlighted the work of pregnancy-care centers and the individuals who make it possible. By focusing on how individuals, organizations, and states can care for mothers with an unplanned pregnancy, the 2024 theme offers a crucial next step to the pro-life movement post-Dobbs.

The first speaker at the event was Jean Marie Davis, executive director of Branches Pregnancy Resource Center in Vermont. Davis herself was a recipient of care there almost a decade ago, when she was in dire straits, with no hope, carrying every kind of burden imaginable. Davis had been sold to traffickers when she was only two years old. She had been abused, she had been trafficked, and she had persevered through addiction. By the time she stumbled into Branches, she was homeless and a few months pregnant. She was greeted by the gentle tones of Phyllis Phelps, who was then serving as the center’s director. She said Phelps was the first person in her life to ask her the simple question, “How can I help you?”

About the Author

Kayla Bartsch

Kayla Bartsch is a former William F. Buckley Jr. Fellow in Political Journalism at National Review.

Featured Tags

‘With every woman, for every child” — this is the theme of the 2024 March for Life, announced earlier this week by the organization’s president, Jeanne Mancini. The “theme reveal” event, hosted at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C., highlighted the work of pregnancy-care centers and the individuals who make it possible. By focusing on how individuals, organizations, and states can care for mothers with an unplanned pregnancy, the 2024 theme offers a crucial next step to the pro-life movement post-Dobbs.

The first speaker at the event was Jean Marie Davis, executive director of Branches Pregnancy Resource Center in Vermont. Davis herself was a recipient of care there almost a decade ago, when she was in dire straits, with no hope, carrying every kind of burden imaginable. Davis had been sold to traffickers when she was only two years old. She had been abused, she had been trafficked, and she had persevered through addiction. By the time she stumbled into Branches, she was homeless and a few months pregnant. She was greeted by the gentle tones of Phyllis Phelps, who was then serving as the center’s director. She said Phelps was the first person in her life to ask her the simple question, “How can I help you?”