Right to Life sends 400 students to Washington, D.C.
More than 400 Notre Dame students registered for the National March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Friday, January 23. Before the students left, University President Father Robert Dowd, C.S.C. blessed the students and their pilgrimage.
This year’s March was unique for Notre Dame’s Right to Life Club due to university-wide budget cuts. Right to Life President Anna Kelley explained to the Rover, “We had a lot of conversations with financial advisors. We didn’t know where we were getting funding from, but we knew we were going to make it happen.”
Through sponsorship from the de Nicola Center for Ethics and Culture, the Notre Dame Alumni Association, Notre Dame Knights of Columbus Council #1477, and other generous benefactors, students joined tens of thousands of fellow demonstrators, marching peacefully from the National Mall to the Supreme Court building on an unusually mild winter afternoon.
The March for Life—the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world, according to its website—has continued even after the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Although the battles over abortion legislation now occur at the state level, the March for Life, a pro-life, non-profit organization, carries on the large-scale demonstration “until a culture of life is restored in the United States of America.”
Notre Dame has a long history with the March for Life. For over fifty years, Notre Dame students have marched to defend pre-born children, with many students attending more than once. Additionally, the president of the March for Life organization—Jennie Bradley Lichter ‘04—is a Notre Dame alumna and former resident of Lyons Hall.
Lichter opened the pre-march Rally for Life with brief remarks and a prayer led by bishops of the Roman Catholic and Orthodox Traditions. Vice President J. D. Vance began the keynote speeches with an address to the marchers, followed by a video message from President Donald Trump. “[The battle for life] is one that must be fought, must be won, not only in the corridors of power, but above all in the hearts and souls of the people,” said President Trump via video from the Oval Office.
Vance’s speech began with a personal defense of life from his background as father of a growing family. The vice president and his wife, Usha, recently announced the pregnancy of their fourth child. “In my remarks last year, I told you all that one of the things I wanted most in the United States was more families and more babies,” said Vance. “So, let the record show you have a vice president who practices what he preaches.”
Vance then pivoted to discuss the second Trump administration’s pro-life policy victories. Chief among them was an expansion of the Mexico City Policy, which prohibits U.S. taxpayer funding of international abortion efforts; the rollback of Biden-era policies funding abortions for government employees; “Trump Accounts” for every baby born during this presidential term; the beginning of fraud investigations into loans for Planned Parenthood-affiliated organizations that were awarded and forgiven by the Biden administration; and banning the use of fetal tissue in federally-funded research.
Vance emphasized, “The March for Life is not just about a political issue. As important as all this politics stuff is, it is about whether we will remain a civilization under God or whether we ultimately return to the paganism of the past.”
Not all pro-lifers were thrilled with the appearance of Trump and Vance at the movement’s signature event. Many have criticized the administration for not adhering to core principles of the pro-life movement, citing both politicians’ support for access to the abortion pill mifepristone and Trump’s offer of the Hyde Amendment—a longstanding statute that prevents federal taxpayer dollars from funding abortions—as a bargaining chip to forestall another government shutdown.
Many marchers also decried the administration’s apparent lack of progress on abortion policy, with one demonstrator shouting protests over Vance’s speech. Vance acknowledged the “elephant in the room,” as he called it, but responded by pointing to Trump’s track record and asking for patience. “I’d ask you to look at where the fight for life stood just one decade ago, and now look where it stands today,” said the vice president. “We have made tremendous strides over the last year, and we’re going to continue to make strides over the next three years to come.”
Despite the ongoing political power plays, the March went smoothly and Notre Dame students were thrilled to participate. After driving through Thursday night in eight buses, students began the day of the March with a Holy Hour and Mass before heading to the National Mall. From there, Notre Dame students marched as a group toward the Supreme Court, often breaking out into renditions of the Alma Mater and chants of “Go Irish, save babies!”
The trip concluded on Saturday morning with a Notre Dame community Mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, in partnership with the Notre Dame Club of Washington, D.C. As Notre Dame students traveled back to campus, they reflected fondly on their pilgrimage. “I loved the March and was inspired to see so many people advocating for life,” freshman Luke Fisher told the Rover.
Freshman Lydia Tomko remarked, “It was a hopeful and sincere joy, rather than anger or hatred, that filled the streets of D.C. That joy is the most striking thing about the March: it’s not merely a political or personal conflict for which the marchers advocate, but rather the conviction that life, the most basic right, is good and beautiful.” She added, “To participate alongside other Notre Dame students was a true gift!”
Reynaldo Guillén, this year’s March Director for Right to Life, concluded the trip with a message to the marchers: “For over 50 years, Notre Dame students, faculty, and staff have traveled to our nation’s capital to march for life. … My hope is that 50 years from now, our fellow alumni will be marching in a world that not only recognizes abortion as an injustice, but truly sees and celebrates the God-given beauty inherent in every human person. Until that day, we march on.”
Kolbe Barta is a freshman in Duncan Hall studying political science and constitutional studies. He can be found dropping sizzling hot takes to cause chaos, playing his guitar, or lecturing on the evils of smartphones while scrolling away on his own. If you are also bad at guitar and a hypocrite, please reach out to him at kbarta3@nd.edu.
Photo Credit: Christian Bustillo
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