“Respect Life Week” promotes 2026 March for Life pilgrimage

Notre Dame Right to Life (RtL) hosted its annual “Respect Life Week” the week of September 29. Programming included numerous social and spiritual activities, including a weekend retreat, Log Chapel Mass and soirée, and a bring-a-date bonfire. Jennie Bradley Lichter, president of the national March for Life, delivered the keynote address.

RtL president Anna Kelley, spoke on the purpose of Respect Life Week. In a comment to the Rover, she called it “a week full of events to promote a culture of life on campus through spirituality, education, and service.”

“I think Respect Life Week is a great way to engage the larger pro-life community on campus,” Kelley said. “Any and all students of the tri-campus community are welcome to Right to Life events throughout the year, but I think having a special week like Respect Life Week helps students feel especially invited in to learn more about the club, our mission, and a part of the community.”

The Catholic faith, which RtL calls “the most powerful means of bringing about change” played a major role in the week’s events. Programming began with a spirituality retreat, featuring Father Drew Clary, C.S.C. and Professor Paul Blaschko as speakers. Later in the week, Father Karl Romkema, C.S.C, director of Old College, celebrated Mass in the Log Chapel for the RtL club and hosted an Old College soirée. Tabling events and prayer services were also offered throughout the week. 

At the heart of the week’s events was keynote speaker Jennie Bradley Lichter ’04, President of the March for Life.

Lichter began by discussing the first time she attended the national March for Life—as a student at Notre Dame. A proud alumna of Lyons Hall, she described her experience attending the March for Life and the formation it brought her in propelling her mission, saying, “It was so fun to look back on that day and how we were just so moved by the experience of being surrounded by tens of thousands of other people, and especially other young people, and surrounded by the joy of and energy of the prolife movement.”

Lichter spoke about the current state of the American pro-life movement in light of both the recent Dobbs v. Jackson decision and the position of the current presidential administration. She remarked that “a reach goal for the movement is to enact an abortion ban after a particular gestational age. … It doesn’t seem to be in the cards in the near term. At the federal level, the President has made that clear.” 

Lichter expressed optimism regarding these legal and political developments, citing numerous polls suggesting that young people are moving in an increasingly pro-life direction. However, Lichter stressed that the prolife movement must not dismiss the legal and social attacks on life that continue to occur since Dobbs, including recent legal losses in many states including Kansas and Montana. 

Lichter described four key elements of a prolife future; “First, speak the truth boldly. Second, invite people in through the power of the transcendentals. Let them lead the way. Third, seek increased legal protections for babies in the womb and mother for life policy. And fourth, walk with moms.”

In addition to continuing the legal fight against abortion, Lichter emphasized an appeal to the transcendentals and reshaping the culture in a prolife direction through love and compassion. “Truth, beauty, and goodness speak to the heart of every person, and they cut through the noise.” Lichter called for the prolife movement to “walk with moms” and to be witnesses to the beauty of human life. 

Lichter repeatedly discussed the role of young people in transforming the culture in a prolife direction. Concluding her talk with a call to prayer, she encouraged all students at Notre Dame to continue to pray and proclaim the truth boldly with love and through sharing in the gift of life. “I invite you to pray intentionally about how you can apply your own strengths, talents and passions to the defense of the unborn … with God’s help and with our eyes fixed on Him who is our reason for hope, our bedrock reason for hope, we are building a culture where every life is welcomed, cherished and protected.”

Following Lichter’s speech, Notre Dame Right to Life officially opened registration to attend the 2026 March for Life pilgrimage, announcing a theme of “Marching with the Saints.” As the Rover reported, over 430 Notre Dame students attended the 2025 March for Life last January.

Reynaldo Guillen, an Old Collegian and director of the Notre Dame March for Life pilgrimage, told the Rover, “The March reminds us that every human life—no matter how small or vulnerable—is a gift worth defending with love, fortitude, and compassion. My goal is to help students recognize that our witness begins long before we reach Washington, D.C. and continues long after we return home.”

Joshua Barnard is a sophomore living in Dunne Hall. He is a philosophy-theology and history double major with a minor in constitutional studies. He can be reached at jbarnar2@nd.edu. 

Photo Credit: March for Life

Subscribe to the Irish Rover here.

Donate to the Irish Rover here.