The March for Life, an encouraging and inspiring annual event, just announced a new president, Jennie Lichter.
Moving forward with hope and joy and justice.
T he human-rights issue of our lives is abortion. Clearly not everyone sees it that way. It’s buried in euphemisms about women’s health. But follow the science. An unborn child dies.
The March for Life happen every January, marking the anniversary of the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in all three trimesters. Abortion has become so much more hot-button and angering and confusing than ever. And despite the headlines, increasingly hidden. Chemical abortion eliminates human encounter, unless CVS counts.
The march doesn’t typically get a lot of media coverage. For years, when it did, it would be of a few pro-abortion protesters in front of the Supreme Court building. That changed the year Donald Trump accepted an invitation to speak. Other presidents have sent messages and videos. But he showed up, making it a major news story even before the end of Roe. That was maddening to me. The March for Life was never Donald Trump’s and never will be — especially now that the Republican Party platform has betrayed the cause. Leaving it to the states is not enough when women — and teenage girls — deserve better than being pressured to end the lives of their children. That’s something that changes you forever. Not only psychologically but biologically.
The March for Life just announced a new president. Jennie Lichter is a wife and mother of two. Her father is a leading intellectual in the pro-life movement, Gerry Bradley at Notre Dame, As general counsel at the Catholic University of America, she spearheaded a program to help mothers on campus — staff and students. Yes, if you’re pregnant, but also long after. Diapers. Food. Parking spaces close to where you need to be. The pro-life movement is not about politics as much as it is about basic resources. Pregnancy-care centers have been demonized in the post-Dobbs era, but they help with clothes and housing and basic skills.
The March — absent Trump — is one of the most encouraging and inspiring events in the United States. Annually, young people fill D.C., occasionally in a blizzard. (I got stuck in a bus for 24 hours after one with University of Mary North Dakota students, but that is another story.)
“The March for Life organization is unique in the pro-life movement and really is unlike any other organization in the nation, full stop,” because of its immense convening power, Lichter says. “Political and cultural winds can and do change, but no matter what happens on the ballot or in the courts or the national conversation this year or any other year, there will still be many, many thousands of Americans who will be looking to the March for Life for guidance. For leadership. For hope. For joyful witness.” If you’ve never been, you have no idea about the joy. Even before Roe ended. Because it’s hospitality and accompaniment.
While the March for Life is about ending abortion, period, they have state marches as well. Lichter says the importance, besides education, is “to show that pro-life Americans are still here, we are still motivated, we will never, ever tire of witnessing together to the beauty and dignity and utter preciousness of human life.”
Outgoing president Jeanne Mancini speaks with great love for the suffering. “We live in a culture with many women and men who have chosen abortion and carry those wounds. Any messaging needs to both speak truth about the inherent dignity of the human person, the destructive nature of abortion to both mom and baby, and be steeped in mercy and hope.”
“And I also think that it’s important to talk about how abortion raises very specific human-rights concerns as well,” Licthter adds. “For example, the disability discrimination involved in the high rates of abortion of babies with Down syndrome, which is particularly tragic at a time when life expectancy and opportunities for people with Down syndrome are on the rise. Or the discrimination involved in sex-selective abortion, which in some parts of the world allows a preference for sons and the consequent abortions of baby girls to result in a skewed sex ratio among babies being born.”
“I’m often asked why we continue to March for Life in January,” Mancini says. There are a variety of reasons for that, but one is the importance of remembering our history.” She quotes Deuteronomy (4:9): ”Only guard yourself and guard your soul carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes saw and lest these things depart your heart all the days of your life. And you shall make them known to your children, and your children’s children.”
“The majority of women who choose abortion say that they would have chosen life if they had the requisite financial and emotional support,” Mancini points out. “Pregnancy care centers answer such a need and have been providing such necessary and lifesaving services for more than half a century. Women deserve to know all their options, including the love, compassion, and free resources available to them through the vast pro-life safety net. In America, over 3,000 organizations across the country offer women and children the physical, educational, emotional, and financial resources necessary to transform their lives. Those of us in the pro-life movement will continue supporting these life-giving organizations and the incredible work they do to ensure that no woman ever must walk alone.”
The March continues. For women and children and families. For humanity.
This column is based on one available through Andrews McMeel Universal’s Newspaper Enterprise Association.