Trump to become first president to speak in person at anti-abortion rally March for Life
President Trump will speak at Friday's March for Life rally of anti-abortion activists, the president and the organization said Wednesday. "See you Friday ... Big crowd!" Mr. Trump said while retweeting a comment from the organization.
Mr. Trump will be the first president ever to attend and speak in person at the annual rally in Washington D.C., which is held around the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Mr. Trump has delivered speeches by live-stream in the past, and Vice President Mike Pence has attended since 2017.
In 2017, Pence framed Mr. Trump's victory as a win for the anti-abortion movement. "Life is winning again in America," Pence said. "That is evident in...the historic election of a president...who I proudly say stands for the right to life."
Pence had previously been the highest-ranking member of any presidential administration to attend. In the past, some Republican presidents have made remarks to the crowd by phone.
Mr. Trump has made appealing to evangelical Christians, a majority of whom are anti-abortion, a cornerstone of his presidency.
March for Life president Jeanne Mancini said in a statement the group is "honored" that Mr. Trump will attend. This year, organizers say they expect hundreds of thousands of people to attend.
The number of Americans who support abortion in all or most cases has climbed up 61%, according to the Pew Research Center. A majority of Americans say they're likely to vote for political candidates who believe abortion should be outlawed after the first three months of pregnancy, according to a new Marist poll commissioned by the Knights of Columbus.