U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen Pence Those who stand up for the dignity of life in all its stages and want to see this respect for all life enshrined once again in US law have a friend in the Pence family and the Trump administration, Vice President Mike Pence told the March for Life crowd on the National Mall on January 18.
Pence and second lady Karen Pence were a surprise addition to the roster of speakers at the rally, and after his remarks, the vice president introduced a videotaped message by President Donald Trump, which also was unexpected.
“We’re the Pences and we’re pro-life,” the vice president said to the cheering crowd.
“We gather here because we stand for life and believe as our Founding Fathers did that life born and unborn is endowed with certain unalienable rights, and the first of those is life,” Pence said.
In his message, Trump said the pro-life movement is “founded on love and grounded in the nobility and dignity of every human life. I will always defend the first right in our Declaration of Independence: the right to life.”
Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, welcomed the crowd and thanked them for coming once again to march to end abortion, what she called “the greatest human rights abuse of our time”.
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Looking out from the speakers’ platform, she declared the crowd to be bigger than she has ever seen in her seven years as head of March for Life.
No official crowd counts are available for such events, but ahead of this year’s rally and march, organisers expected more than 100,000 to participate.
“We must keep marching for life every day of the year,” Ms Mancini said, and she asked each marcher to share his or her pro-life story on social media because the stories about “why we march” can change others’ minds about abortion.
The theme for this year’s March for Life was “Unique From Day One: Pro-life Is Pro-science”, focusing on how scientific advancements reveal “the humanity of the unborn child from the moment of conception”.
In his remarks, Pence urged the pro-lifers to stand up for God’s creation, spread their message with compassion and hope, and not let their detractors dissuade them.
