‘A lot of pro-life people feel that their votes are being taken for granted,’ one attendee told NR.
While the White House has touted President Trump as the “most pro-life president in history,” attendees of the annual March for Life on Friday told National Review that his approach to abortion during his second term has alienated some members of the movement.
Pro-lifers who spoke with NR said they believe the Trump administration has been riding the high of the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned the question of abortion back to the states in a major win for the movement, and has in turn softened its stance on abortion in an effort to appeal to a wider bloc of voters.
Adriana Michalowski told National Review that she decided to attend the march for the first time this year in large part because of her frustrations over the administration’s “weak stance” on abortion.
Pro-lifers have voiced disappointment with the administration over several of its recent moves, including the approval of a generic version of the chemical abortion pill mifepristone in September. Compounding the issue, Trump recently urged Republican members of Congress to be more flexible, during health care legislation negotiations, on the Hyde amendment. The amendment, which bars the federal funding of most abortions, has been a bedrock principle of the pro-life movement since it was passed in 1976. As NR reported last week, the administration has sent “mixed signals” to pro-life groups amid negotiations over the congressional GOP health care bill.
Pro-life activists have also expressed concern over reporting in Bloomberg News that the Food and Drug Administration is delaying a safety review of mifepristone until after the midterm elections, though a Health and Human Services has called the reporting “baseless.”
Tensions between Trump and the pro-life movement began during the 2024 election cycle, when the Republican National Committee watered down the national party platform’s language on abortion, removing all former references to a human-life amendment and 20-week abortion ban in favor of Trump’s preferred federalist approach to abortion. The new 16-page document says only that Republicans “oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).”
Michalowski said of the administration’s recent posturing and policymaking, “This is very frustrating, and they should be doing more.” Politicians, she added, should be more transparent about their governance, whether it concerns efforts to defund Planned Parenthood or the FDA’s approval of a generic abortion drug.
Ben Deacon, who told NR he’s been a pro-lifer for as long as he can remember, said that while he appreciates any support from the administration on the pro-life issue, there is still more to be done.
“A lot of pro-life people feel that their votes are being taken for granted,” Deacon said, suggesting pro-lifers would like to see the administration make more of an effort to defund Planned Parenthood and to stand strong in its pro-life convictions. In the meantime, he says, many of the Trump officials’ remarks at the march are merely “lip service.”
Vice President JD Vance headlined the rally portion of the event. In his speech, he focused heavily on pro-family policies the administration has spearheaded, like the Trump Family Tax Credit. Vance also highlighted the recent announcement that the Trump administration has expanded the Mexico City policy — which bans foreign aid from being used to fund abortion — to include gender and diversity, equity, and inclusion ideology.
“It’s our job to promote families and human flourishing,” Vance said to the crowd on the National Mall.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Pope Leo XIV, and others shared remarks either in-person or virtually at the rally to the crowd of thousands.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America President Marjorie Dannenfelser issued a statement ahead of Friday’s march, urging the GOP and the administration to “stand firm” on pro-life policies.
“We are glad the Trump-Vance Administration announced new pro-life policies this morning including a major expansion of the Mexico City policy and ending the funding of research that uses fetal tissue,” Dannenfelser said. “However, abortion drugs and the forced taxpayer funding of abortion are the most urgent issues affecting the lives of hundreds of thousands.”
While leaders at the march did not address the administration’s suggested walk back on the Hyde amendment directly, March for Life President Jennie Bradley Lichter encouraged all rallygoers to pressure their elected officials to stand up for the policy.
During the rally, Lichter told everyone to send a message to their senator encouraging them not to pass any healthcare legislation that abandons the Hyde amendment.
Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action, told National Review in a statement that while the march is “always special,” she has concerns leading up to the 2026 midterm elections.
“Tepid support for LIFE equals tepid support for the GOP from voters who deserve to be prioritized. Not only do we have the best voter intensity, we have the clearest vision: An America in which children in the womb are protected in law and in service, and in which their mothers get the help they need. That’s what we vote for and that’s an agenda worth fighting for,” Hawkins said.