President Donald Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance spoke to tens of thousands of pro-life marchers at the 52nd March for Life held Friday at the National Mall, Washington, D.C.
Trump, speaking by prerecorded video from the Oval Office, thanked the marchers for “turning out to show your extraordinary love and compassion for the unborn,” a livestream of the event shows. He said he was “proud to be the first president ever to have joined you in person.”
He described the now-overturned Roe v. Wade — a Supreme Court decision declaring abortion to be a constitutional right — as a “disastrous ruling” and an “unconstitutional decision” that “took power away from the states and the voters, kicking off 50 years of division and anger.”
The Supreme Court made the ruling in 1973, a year before the March for Life organizers staged their first march. Trump laid the groundwork in his first term for the 2022 overturning by appointing conservative Supreme Court Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett, tipping the court away from a liberal bent by six to three. Trump told the crowd he was “so proud” to have helped to see that “that historic wrong was set right.” (RELATED: Trump Pardons Pro-Lifers Ahead Of March For Life)
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 24: People attending the annual March for Life rally watch a pre-tapped video recording of US President Donald Trump on the National Mall on January 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. Anti-abortion activists attend the annual march that marked the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s, now overturned, 1973, Roe v. Wade ruling which legalized abortion in all 50 states. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Vance said American “society has failed to recognize the obligation that one generation has to another is a core part of living in a society, to begin with.”
“So let me say very simply: I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vance continued, to a rousing cheer. “I want more happy children in our country. And I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them.”
He thanked the crowd for the “honor to be standing with you here today for life,” hailed “the excitement, the passion, the unwavering conviction” of the marchers, and said the march deeply moved him and meant more to him and Trump “than I can possibly say.”
“We march to protect the unborn. We march to proclaim and live out the sacred truth that every single child is a miracle and a gift from God,” Vance said.
He said the movement’s task was to be “pro-family and pro-life in the fullest sense.”
American society and the government have permitted “a culture of abortion on demand” and “neglect[ed] to help young parents achieve the ingredients they need to live a happy and meaningful life,” Vance told the marchers. He decried “a culture of radical individualism” that viewed family life as a hindrance rather than a blessing.
“We need a culture that celebrates life at all stages, one that recognizes and truly believes that the benchmark of national success is not our [Gross Domestic Product] number or our stock market but whether people feel that they can raise thriving and healthy families in our country,” he said.
The government must make family-building and child-raising easier and affordable for young couples, he added.

WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 24: US Vice President JD Vance speaks on stage as people attend the annual March for Life rally on the National Mall on January 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. Anti-abortion activists attend the annual march that marked the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s, now overturned, 1973, Roe v. Wade ruling which legalized abortion in all 50 states. (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)
Vance described Trump as “the most pro-family, pro-life president of our lifetime.”
Fertility rates fell particularly among minority women, teenagers, women aged over 35 years, and the unmarried in states where abortion was legal, according to a study. “[W]e estimate that a complete recriminalization of abortion would result in perhaps as many as 440 000 additional births per year,” the researchers wrote.
Falling birth rates could result in a dwindling workforce, worsening inflation, the jolting of stable economies, and an overwhelmed social security, CNN reported.
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