On Friday, Jan. 19, pro-life Americans braved snow and freezing temperatures during the 2024 March for Life in Washington, D.C., in an effort to make abortion “unthinkable.”
Thousands came to rally and march from the U.S. Capitol to the Supreme Court building. “I was glad to see that thousands and thousands of people took time to participate,” Franklin Graham posted on Facebook. “The snow and cold didn’t stop them from protecting the unborn!”
In a rally on the National Mall prior to the march, several people—celebrities, citizens and politicians, including House Speaker Mike Johnson—stood in front of the crowd and testified for the lives of unborn children in the U.S. “Our rights do not come from government; our rights come from God, our Creator,” Johnson said to the cheers of the crowd waving pro-life signs, banners and flags. “Every single person has inestimable dignity and value.”
Johnson told his own story: “I am, myself, a product of an unplanned pregnancy. In January of 1972, exactly one year before Roe v. Wade, my parents, who were just teenagers at the time, chose life. And I am very profoundly grateful that they did.”
Several others took the stage to share their personal stories of life. Jean Marie Davis, now the executive director of the Branches Pregnancy Resource Center, told of when she accepted Christ at a pregnancy center in New Hampshire. She was trafficked in 33 different states from age 2 to age 29—“I wanted to die, I wanted my son dead. I had no life, I had no hope.” Quoting John 3:16-17, Davis celebrated the story of God’s redemption in her life. “No matter what, we’re here to help,” she said. “We’re here for the babies, we’re here to save souls and save lives.”
“Roe is done, but we still live in a culture that knows not how to care for life,” former NFL player Benjamin Watson said from the stage. He encouraged everyone at the rally to press on, no matter what they returned to after the march. “Keep pressing on until abortion is not only unthinkable, but for so many who think that it’s necessary, it will no longer be necessary.”
The final speaker was Greg Laurie, pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship in California, with his wife, Cathe, standing by his side. Laurie was born to a mother who was married and divorced seven times. In his words, “She had a fling with some guy in Long Beach, and I was conceived. I was not planned. Thankfully, my mother carried me to term, and I was born.” Laurie led the gathering in a prayer of salvation, saying that though “being born” is very important, being “born again” by Jesus Christ is even more so. “Lord, we pray for a great spiritual awakening to sweep the United States of America,” he prayed. “We need another revival.”
The March for Life has been held annually since 1974, only one year after Roe v. Wade was handed down. According to March for Life’s website, 2024 isn’t the only year in which people advocated for the unborn despite the weather—in 1987, a blizzard struck Washington, D.C., but 10,000 people still came to march through the snow.
In January 2020, President Donald Trump became the first U.S. President to speak at the March for Life.
Friday’s March marked the second since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the historic Supreme Court overturn of Roe v. Wade that gave the right to make abortion laws back to the states. Since that decision, according to Fox News, 14 states have banned abortion throughout pregnancy, two have bans that take effect as soon as a fetal heartbeat is detectable, and still other states have bans on hold.
Meanwhile, the U.S. House of Representatives on Jan. 18 passed a bill to block the Biden administration’s efforts to restrict funding from pro-life pregnancy centers.
Photo: Eric Kayne / ZUMAPRESS / Newscom