Leaders highlight policies to end taxpayer-funded abortions at march for life

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

Vice President JD Vance and other elected officials on Friday touted their accomplishments to implement pro-life legislation over the past year at the 53rd annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

Vance highlighted the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling overturning of Roe v. Wade, a case that legalized abortion across the country in 1973.

“What the president did, what the Supreme Court did was put a definitive end to the tyranny of judicial rule on the question of human life,” Vance said.

Vance also highlighted the Trump administration’s efforts to halt federal tax dollars to Planned Parenthood, end research and investigate fraud in facilities that provide abortions.

“The thing that I’m perhaps most proud of is that we have been responsible stewards of your tax dollars on this question of life,” Vance said.

Vance also highlighted the Trump administration’s work to cut foreign aid spending. He said the administration designed its foreign aid cuts to cut money from organizations that perform or promote abortions internationally.

However, some pro-life advocates have called on the Trump administration to do more in support of the organization’s causes. During Vance’s speech, an attendee shouted for the administration to designate policy for abortion drugs like mifepristone.

Vance called for greater unity among the aniti-abortion movement and to engage in “open conversations.”

“There will inevitably be debates in this movement; we love each other,” Vance said. “But we’re going to have open conversations about how best to use our political system to advance life.”

Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson, R-La., also called for unity within the movement and acknowledged the introduction of legislation to advance anti-abortion policies. Johnson highlighted provisions to restrict government funding of Planned Parenthood included in the Big Beautiful Bill, passed in July 2025.

“We stand here today with one united voice to confirm the federal government should not be subsidizing any industry that profits from the elimination of human life,” Johnson said.

Kathie Aultman, a demonstrator at the march, said she wants to see more protections to keep taxpayer dollars from contributing to abortion procedures.

“It’s wrong to involuntarily take someone’s money and pay for something that they abhor,” Aultman said.

“The March for Life, my friends, it’s not just about a political issue as important as all this politics stuff is,” Vance said. “It is about whether we will remain a civilization under God or whether we ultimately return to the paganism that dominated the past.”