Pro-lifers to march for “Every Life”

March for Life leadership on Thursday morning unveiled the organization’s theme for 2025, as well as details for future events and organizational changes.

President Jeanne Mancini said the organization selected the 2025 theme, “Every Life: Why We March,” with a nod toward its roots. Leadership wanted to focus on the human-rights element of the event at a time when many pro-life advocates had expressed doubts about the movement’s recent progress, Mancini said. Pro-life demonstrators will march on the National Mall and Capitol Hill on Jan. 24, 2025.

What message does the march hope to deliver in 2025? Mancini said that some marchers have expressed doubts about the landmark 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson U.S. Supreme Court decision that allowed states to protect unborn babies from abortion. She said many voters were particularly discouraged to see former President Donald Trump soften his pro-life stance, while a slew of ballot measures up for consideration in 2024 could soon expand abortion access. For instance, Trump has said he would veto federal pro-life protections if he is elected to a second term and such legislation reached his desk.

Mancini hopes to remind marchers of the movement’s unity at the grassroots level—even while divisions about how to pursue those ends persist even among conservative lawmakers. Moreover, she hopes to underscore that the pro-life camp has never been about quick results and that the bulk of the movement is in it for the long haul.

Specifically, the event will use digital campaign strategies to highlight the intricacies of fetal development. Mancini said that surfer and shark survivor Bethany Hamilton will deliver the keynote address. The pop-Christian band Unspoken will headline the onstage performance before the march.

Last year’s theme was “With Every Woman, For Every Child.”

What else did the leadership team discuss? Mancini, who has led the March for Life for 12 years, will step down from the role and assume a position on the board of directors. President-Elect Jennie Bradley Lichter, a former deputy director of the White House Domestic Policy Council for the Trump Administration, will step into the role on February 1.

Lichter described herself as a longtime participant in the March for Life. She recalled attending for the first time as a freshman at the University of Notre Dame in 2001.

“No matter what happens in politics, there will be so many Americans who are looking to this organization and the March for Life for guidance, for inspiration, for hope, for community. We will never, ever get tired of witnessing together for the dignity and the beauty of human life. I said yes so I could be part of that,” Lichter said Thursday morning.

Dig deeper: While the fight for the unborn continues at the state level, pro-life voters in Georgia worry whether the state’s 2019 heartbeat bill may open up women to prosecution for having an abortion. WORLD’s Leah Savas reports on the law.