Thousands ‘March for Life’ in D.C. amid the snow, as Lee and Romney express support

January snow didn’t stop thousands of pro-life advocates from attending the March for Life in Washington, D.C., Friday morning. The National Weather Service issued a winter storm warning until 10 p.m. Friday, and schools across the district were closed for the day.

However, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., former NFL star Benjamin Watson, Focus on the Family President Jim Daly and others still spoke at the National Mall in front of the Washington Monument, asking for renewed “courage” defending the pro-life movement.

Both Utah Republican Sens. Mike Lee and Mitt Romney released statements of solidarity with Friday’s March for Life, and Lee also introduced four acts “to protect the unborn.”

Rachel Cranney, 39, participated in the 2024 March for Life and described the event’s atmosphere. “There’s something special about being with a bunch of people who really value children and the unborn,” she said. “It’s just a really friendly group of people.”

As a person of faith, Cranney said she believes the role of religion is to humanize. “That’s what happened with slavery,” she said. “It was the religious zealots who said, ‘This is wrong. Slavery is wrong,’ and they helped humanize slaves.”

She added she didn’t fully understand how human unborn babies are until she had a late-term miscarriage. “It just shocked me — the personhood,” she said.

Johnson mentions two recent pro-pregnancy bills passed in the House

At the march, Johnson explained why he believed thousands were gathered in the snow. He said, “We’re all joining to celebrate life and what it means to be an American.” After quoting the Declaration of Independence, Johnson said, “Our rights don’t come from our government, our rights come from God, our creator.”

“I am myself a product of an unplanned pregnancy,” Johnson said. His parents were both teenagers when he was born, and he said he is “profoundly grateful” that they chose life.

Johnson also referenced two House acts passed last week to provide pregnancy resources for women. The first is the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act, which aims to help women complete their college degrees. Johnson said, “Women should not be presented with a false choice of being a mom or being a student.”

The second bill Johnson mentioned was the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act. President Joe Biden proposed a regulation “to restrict funds to pregnancy resources,” Johnson said. If passed in the Senate, this bill would prevent the regulation from taking action and “ensure that the states can utilize these centers to help people in need.”

A change in public opinion about life and abortion needs to come through courageous leaders, Johnson said. He referred to successful work from Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony, whose work “was grounded in our nation’s creed.”

Johnson concluded, “Let’s press on and hope that we can join together and make this great difference. I believe that we can.”

Former NFL star Benjamin Watson calls on men to fight for their families

University of Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh introduced Watson.

Referencing last year’s Supreme Court act to overturn Roe v. Wade, Watson began, “Roe is done, but abortion is still legal and thriving in too much of America.”

Watson addressed and encouraged specific groups to be “courageous” in standing for life.

“Men,” he said, “In a country where too many of our marriages are crumbling, go back to your homes and fight for your families.”

Addressing civic leaders, Watson said, “In the current climate of compromise, go back to your committees and communities and legislate for life and for justice.” To workers at pregnancy resource centers, he said, “Go back to your post knowing every encounter is not simply about saving one child, but you are saving generations.”

He concluded, “And all you young people, with all of your energy and all of your ingenuity, go back to your schools and go back to your teams and your churches. Be leaders who are unashamed to stand for life.”

Sen. Mitt Romney ‘stands with those marching in the spirit of compassion’

In an X post Friday morning, Romney wrote, “I stand with those marching in the spirit of compassion today to defend those who cannot defend themselves. Together, we will make it unequivocally clear: All human life, including the life of unborn children, is sacred.”

Romney attached a video to his post asking citizens to “support policies that protect society’s most vulnerable” and thanking them for acting as a voice for “those who cannot defend themselves.”

Sen. Mike Lee sponsors four new pro-life bills

“I’m honored to stand with those who stand for life,” Lee said on X and in a press release. He added, “As we march for life, we should be inspired to build a society where every life is cherished, where compassion triumphs over convenience, and where the horrors of abortion during the long, awful reign of Roe become a distant memory.”

Friday morning, Lee announced “four bills to protect the unborn,” including the Abortion is not Health Care Act, prohibiting the IRS from offering tax deductions on abortion medical expenses, the Protecting Life in Health Savings Accounts, ending “the preferential tax treatment of abortion in health savings accounts,” the Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance Act, prohibiting federal funds from being used outside the U.S. related to abortion and the Guaranteeing the Unborn Access to Respect and Dignity (GUARD) Act, closing “a loophole that currently allows the Coast Guard ... to use taxpayer dollars for abortion-related activities.”