WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Tens of thousands of pro-lifers braved the cold Friday to march in the nation’s capital for the 51st annual March for Life, and now time-lapse videos show the impressive size of the turnout.
Pro-lifers from across and beyond America gathered at the National Mall and marched a 2-mile route to a concluding spot between the U.S. Capitol and U.S. Supreme Court, celebrating the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade and building on that victory by urging Congress to take further action.
Those who addressed the March, whether in person or via messages of support to the media, included Bishop Joseph Strickland, Michigan football coach Jim Harbaugh, Republican presidential candidates Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, and others, with speakers discussing both the political and cultural aspects of the fight for life, including the power of pregnancy resource centers and adoption.
Going into this year’s event, it was an open question whether the end of Roe, the protest of which had been the March’s focal point for most of its history, and frigid winter weather were going to dissuade turnout. “March for Life organizers expected 50,000 people to attend the rally and 100,000 to march, according to a permit issued by the National Park Service,” Fox News reported. “But turnout appeared to be down from previous years due to the stormy weather.”
A final estimate of attendance has not yet been released, but a pair of time-lapse videos of the event put out by the official March for Life organization and Students for Life of America show that even if turnout did not reach the peaks of the March’s history, it was still more than formidable:
The 2024 March for Life | The pro-life movement is here to walk With Every Woman, For Every Child! pic.twitter.com/uHvZPJzMwj
— March for Life (@March_for_Life) January 19, 2024
Proud to be at the National Pro-Life March with the Pro-Life Gen who braved terrible weather to fight a terrible evil.
We are the Pro-Life Generation, and we WILL abolish abortion. pic.twitter.com/oGSjdK8FnB
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) January 19, 2024
READ: Tens of thousands at March for Life in Washington, DC demand end to all abortion
READ: House Speaker Mike Johnson tells March for Life: ‘I am the product of an unplanned pregnancy’
As in past years, the March saw a significant number of college students. They represented “schools ranging from far-left institutions, including Princeton University and Wellesley College, to pro-life havens like Liberty University and Hillsdale College,” according to the Daily Signal. “Notre Dame University and Liberty each brought more than 500 students to the march, 300 marched from Catholic University of America, more than 120 drove to D.C. from Hillsdale College, and 45 students traveled from the University of Florida.”
What’s more, pro-life turnout eclipsed pro-abortion attempts to organize a counter-protest, with the group Reproaction canceling one such event Friday morning after failing to attract social media engagement.
This year’s March occurred in a landscape where fifteen states currently ban all or most abortions, with available data so far indicating that now-enforceable pro-life laws could effectively save an estimated 200,000 children a year, though the abortion lobby is pursuing a variety of tactics to preserve abortion “access.” With many Republicans bitterly divided over the public perception of more comprehensive abortion bans, some of those tactics have been effective enough to prompt conversation among pro-lifers about the need to develop new strategies of our own to protect life at the ballot box.
LifeSiteNews was in Washington, D.C., led by our Editor in Chief John-Henry Westen. LifeSite’s full collection of live updates can be found here, and a complete schedule of the weekend’s previous festivities as well as events continuing into Saturday can be found here.