The theme of the 52nd National March for Life was "Life: Why We March," and for the thousands of people gathered on the National Mall in the freezing cold Jan. 24, everyone had their own "why" for coming out that day to stand for the life of the unborn child.
Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of Kansas City, Kansas, who led the rally in prayer, told OSV News that he attends the annual march "because this is the most important human rights issue." But also, he said, "to get recharged with all the great people that are here."
He praised both the personal testimonies of those who spoke at the rally about choosing life in difficult circumstances, and the enthusiasm of those gathered to march more than two years after the Supreme Court overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion nationwide. The court returned the issue back to the lawmakers in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision.
"I think there's a great spirit of hope," he said. He said some recent hopeful news was President Donald Trump pardoning 23 pro-life protestors who had been convicted of violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinics (FACE) Act. He also welcomed the president's video address to the march in which he promised to "stand proudly for families and for life."
At the same time, in the post-Dobbs climate where pro-life efforts in many states have failed, Archbishop Naumann emphasized that "we have to change the culture." He said, "If we want good laws, that means we have to evangelize others."
"We have the truth, we have good arguments, but we have to evangelize them with love and with our joy," he said. "That's what's going to convert culture. That will change laws."
Two Dominican sisters weaving their way through the crowd stopped to talk about why they marched in the cold that day.
Sister Mary Rose Bingham with Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia in Nashville said that her life as a religious sister naturally includes being pro-life, because life is a "fundamental" gift from God. She said the Dominican sisters attend the March "to be a living witness to the value of life in all its forms."
Sister Theresa Joseph Loan Anh Nguyen, a member of the Dominican Sisters of Mary Immaculate Province in Houston, said that "it is our duty to protect life from the moment of conception to natural death."
She said gathering to march for life is to be "among thousands of people to stand up for the voiceless, to stand up for women who would receive the gift of motherhood." Babies, she said, "are made in the image and likeness of God and they are a gift, not something to be trashed or to be thrown away. Life is precious."
Marcela Rojas, who lives in the Archdiocese of New York, said that she came to the march with a group of 75 people, many of them mothers bringing their small children. They came, she said, to be the voice of those babies "who cannot have a voice," adding that their presence in the march is a way to say "yes" to life.
Rojas also had a message "for all those moms or those people who are going through moments in which they do not want to have their baby."
"Be aware that you are not alone. You are not alone; seek help," she said. "There is a lot of help in which there are ways out -- not to abort -- there are ways out to feel better and there are ways out to be able to say yes to that life."
Chris and Isabel Hoff traveled from Michigan to be at the March for Life. They held a brightly colored sign that announced, "We're adopting," and included a link to their adoption agency information. The couple first started going to the March for Life when they were students together at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio.
"We were always open, even before getting married, to adoption," Chris Hoff said. Isabel also said that they were marching "to show our support for life and all life from conception to natural death and to promote the beauty of adoption as well."
They were overwhelmed by the "beautiful" responses they got from their fellow marchers to their sign, including encouraging stories from those who were adopted and from couples who have adopted. Isabel felt blessed "to witness to adoption and to promote our adoption journey with so many other pro-lifers here."
Diane Ferraro, CEO of Save the Storks, was one of the pro-life advocates at the march who was adopted. Her organization provides mobile pregnancy testing and ultrasound buses to assist women in need.
"My birth mother went to Mexico to abort me in 1966," she told OSV News. "So this is very personal to me. And we want every woman who is finding out that she's pregnant, and maybe feels she isn't ready, to know we have so many resources around the country to help support her and equip her."
She added that the climate today is difficult following the Dobbs decision. But she said they "have to keep fighting for life" and "really making motherhood a beautiful thing and celebrating motherhood for what it is: It's a miracle."
A new generation of young people at the march also showed their determination to bring about a pro-life culture shift in the post-Dobbs era.
"If we want the culture of death to change to a culture of life, then we, the youth, are the ones in charge of making the difference," said Michelle Rivera, 19, from San Diego. A Latin America coordinator for the Christian organization Pro-Life Global, Rivera said young people must "be that voice that will go and save a baby with a mom, or be a lawyer or a governor that can make a change in a law."
