Vance to address March for Life rally in person; Trump to speak via video

WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Vice President JD Vance is expected to address the 53rd annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 23, organizers of the event said Jan. 16.

“We’re thrilled to welcome Vice President Vance back to the March for Life this year,” Jennie Bradley Lichter, president March for Life, said in a statement. “His presence at this year’s March underscores the importance of this iconic event and the centrality of the pro-life movement to a healthy conservative coalition. We are honored that he will join us in standing up for the unborn alongside our marchers from all over the country.”  

President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House Jan. 16 he recorded a video message for the event.

“I just taped a beautiful piece for them, and they’re going to play it,” Trump said. 

Vance’s planned appearance at the rally was first reported by The Daily Wire. A spokesperson for the White House did not immediately respond to an OSV News request for comment. 

Just days after taking the oath of office last January, Vance spoke at the 2025 March for Life rally. In his remarks, Vance said, ” … the task of our movement is to protect innocent life. It’s to defend the unborn and it’s also to be pro-family and pro-life in the fullest sense of that word possible.”

“I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vance added. He argued that addressing cost-of-living concerns would be part of this approach. 

“We need a culture that celebrates life at all stages, one that recognizes and truly believes that the benchmark of national success is not our GDP number or our stock market, but whether people feel that they can raise thriving and healthy families in our country,” Vance said at the time. 

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, as president, 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 9 out of 10 abortions take place within the first trimester, with more than six of 10 abortions performed through mifepristone.

The 2026 event comes shortly after Trump told House Republicans in a Jan. 6 speech to be “flexible” on the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits public funding of elective abortions, in negotiations on health care subsidies — to the disappointment of pro-life groups that support that policy. 

The annual March for Life, which calls itself the “largest annual human rights demonstration in the world,” takes place on or around the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court‘s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade, which previously legalized abortion nationwide. This year’s event marks the fourth march since the high court overturned Roe and related abortion precedent in its 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., are also among those scheduled to speak at the rally.

Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.

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