WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Shortly after Vice President JD Vance addressed the 53rd annual March for Life in Washington Jan. 23, a key national pro-life group reiterated its call to the Trump administration to safeguard the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits taxpayer funding for abortion, and to reinstate stronger restrictions on mifepristone, a pill commonly, but not exclusively, used for early abortion.
Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, one of the organizations that has pushed the Trump administration on both Hyde and mifepristone regulations, said in a statement, “It is time for the Trump-Vance administration to act and at a minimum restore in-person dispensing, getting these dangerous drugs out of the mail. Doing so would allow states to enforce their laws, protect countless unborn lives, and restore essential medical oversight to stop the coercion and abuse of women nationwide.”
In his speech to the March for Life rally, acknowledging what he called “the elephant in the room,” Vance spoke about concerns from some in the pro-life movement about their remaining policy priorities just over a year into Trump’s second term in the White House.
“I want you to know that I hear you, and that I understand there will inevitably be debates within this movement,” Vance continued. “We love each other, and we’re going to have open conversations about how best we use our political system to advance life, how prudential we must be in the cause of advancing human life. I think these are good, honest and natural debates, and frankly, they’re not just good for all of you. They help keep people like me honest, and that’s an important thing.”
Elsewhere in the speech, Vance said, “My friends, I ask you to look where the fight for life stood just one decade ago.”
“We have made tremendous strides over the last year and we’ll continue to make strides over the next few years to come,” he said.
But Dannenfelser said that the comparison to 10 years ago “reveals a harsh reality.”
“The clearest measure of whether the pro-life movement is winning or losing is the number of abortions occurring each year,” she said. “According to the latest statistics, there are at least 1.1 million abortions occurring in America annually post-Roe. This compares to 874,000 abortions in 2016 — a 30% increase.”
“Because of the indispensable role President Trump played in the overturning of Roe, we have the opportunity to save lives and serve women,” she argued. “But it is because of the inaction of the Trump-Vance administration on abortion drugs that this opportunity isn’t being realized — and abortions are going up, not down.”
More than six of 10 abortions in the U.S. are performed through a combination of mifepristone and misoprostol, according to recent estimates. Pro-life groups including SBA have called on the Trump administration to reverse some of the abortion-related policies implemented by the Biden administration, notably its eased restrictions on mifepristone.
After the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision, Dannenfelser said, former President Joe Biden “eliminated the in-person dispensing requirement for abortion drugs — flooding the market with mail-order abortions without any meaningful medical oversight.” She argued that as a result, “the Trump-Vance position of ‘back to the states’ is being undermined every single day as abortion drugs flood illegally into pro-life states.”
She added, “Women are also paying the price, with horrifying cases of abuse and coercion emerging — including in Vice President Vance’s home state of Ohio.”
Vance’s in-person address to the rally, and President Donald Trump’s prerecorded video message to it, came as some pro-life leaders criticized Trump’s recent comments to House Republicans telling them 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 have long supported that policy.
In a Jan. 23 press release, the White House called Trump “the Most Pro-Life President in History,” and pointed to recent announcements including a review of allegations Planned Parenthood illegally received $88 million in COVID-19 pandemic-related loans, National Institutes of Health cuts to funding for research using aborted fetal tissue, and an expansion of the Mexico City policy — which prohibits taxpayer funding for groups that perform elective abortions overseas — to include U.S.-based NGOs operating abroad.
“Vice President JD Vance delivered inspiring remarks to the March for Life, reinforcing the Trump Administration’s unwavering commitment to supporting families and protecting life,” the release said.
The Catholic Church teaches that all human life is sacred from conception to natural death, and as such, opposes direct abortion. After the Dobbs decision, Church officials in the U.S. have reiterated the Church’s concern for both mother and child, and they have called to strengthen available support for those living in poverty or other causes that can increase the risk of abortion.
That concern was voiced among Catholic participants at the March itself.
Father Jeremy St. Martin, a Catholic priest with a group from St. Jude Parish in Waltham, Massachusetts, told OSV News that the ready availability of mifepristone for abortion is a concern.
“It’s not the case that the fight is over,” he said, pointing to “the fact that it’s so readily available online, and you can get it through the mail.”
Kate Scanlon is a national reporter for OSV News covering Washington. Follow her on X @kgscanlon.
