Trump to send video message to March for Life rally; Vance to speak at event

WASHINGTON (OSV News) -- President Donald Trump will deliver a video message to the March for Life rally in the nation's capital Jan. 24, and Vice President JD Vance will speak to the rally in person.

According to multiple news reports, the White House confirmed Trump's remote appearance Jan. 23. Earlier the same day march organizers announced Vance would address the crowd, and his appearance will mark Vance's first public event as vice president outside of inaugural events.

During his 2022 U.S. Senate bid, Vance, a Catholic, said he supported a federal 15-week abortion ban -- a measure potentially affecting nearly 6% of abortions in the U.S. But in the days leading up to his selection as the Republican vice presidential nominee, Vance moderated his position on abortion, aligning with Trump that abortion policy should be left to the states. He affirmed Trump would oppose a federal abortion ban if Congress passed such a law.

Vance said on the campaign trail he also supported mifepristone, a pill commonly used for first-trimester abortion, “being accessible.” Although mifepristone can be used in early miscarriage care protocols, Vance did not qualify his statement. Nearly nine out of 10 abortions take place within the first trimester, with more than six of 10 abortions performed through mifepristone.

However, Vance has also frequently discussed a more aggressive policy approach to combating root causes of poverty, calling for a higher minimum wage and floating a $5,000 per child tax credit. Some pro-family researchers have pointed to findings indicating that giving robust child allowances to parents could have both anti-poverty and pro-life effects by lifting households with children out of poverty and alleviating some of the economic push-factors behind abortion. In the U.S., abortion correlates heavily with low-income levels, with seven out of 10 women telling researchers at the Guttmacher Institute that they could not afford a baby as an important factor into why they had an abortion.

March for Life organizers noted Vance spoke at the Ohio March for Life in 2023, while serving as the U.S. senator from that state.

"We are thrilled that Vice President Vance has chosen the National March for Life for his first public appearance in his new role -- a sign of his commitment to standing up for life," Jeanne Mancini, president of March for Life, and Jennie Bradley Lichter, its president-elect, said in a joint statement Jan. 23.

"President Trump governed as a pro-life president during his first term which resulted in a long list of accomplishments," they said. "We look forward to working with him and Vice President Vance as they dismantle the Biden Administration’s aggressive and unpopular abortion agenda and once again put wins on the board for vulnerable unborn children and their mothers."

Additional expected speakers at the rally include Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., among others. Both DeSantis and Smith, like Vance, are Catholic.

Former Vice President Mike Pence was the first vice president to address the annual pro-life gathering in person in 2017. In 2020, Trump became the first president to do so, although some previous presidents addressed the group by video or audio message.