Trump And Vance Sidestep Abortion Executive Orders In March For Life Speeches

Vice President JD Vance told thousands of anti-abortion protesters gathered on the snow-dusted National Mall on Friday that President Donald Trump will be the “the most pro-family, most pro-life American president of our lifetimes.”

He added, in his first public remarks since taking office on Monday, that Trump will do “so much more” than he did for abortion opponents in his first term in office.

But for anti-abortion activists at the annual March for Life who were hoping the leaders of the new administration would use the event to announce specifics, it was a letdown.

Neither Vance nor President Donald Trump — who made similar remarks in a prerecorded video, pledging to “stand proudly for families and for life” — offered specifics about the policies they want to enact.

The lack of announcements from the rally stage is compounding existing frustration with the administration within the anti-abortion movement, and reviving fears that arose during his last presidential run that the issue will not be a priority going forward.

“It was disappointing. It should have already happened. It needs to happen today,” said Lila Rose, the leader of the anti-abortion group Live Action who criticized Trump on the campaign trail for waffling on the issue but ultimately backed his candidacy. “There’s a ton more that can be done easily by executive order — that was done in past administrations — and that’s a no brainer.”

Anti-abortion activists and lawmakers are specifically demanding, in online petitions, open letters to Trump and private channels to the administration, that Trump reinstate anti-abortion restrictions on domestic and international funding for family planning and HIV prevention programs, undo Biden administration rules expanding abortion access for some military members and veterans and direct the FDA to ban telehealth prescription and mail delivery of abortion pills — if not ban the drugs entirely.

Kristi Hamrick, the vice president of Students for Life of America, called Trump’s appearance at the march “a great first step,” but stressed that she and others are expecting much more from the administration.

“Pro-life Americans know that to reverse the radical pro-abortion policies of the Biden-Harris Administration will be a lot of work. But it’s work we are asking this administration to do,” she said.

Abortion opponents say they are also waiting for Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to publicly renounce his past support for abortion access and promise to enact restrictions if confirmed.

“We just need some reassurance,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, the leader of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, told POLITICO. “His answers to senators have basically been, ‘My policies will be the Trump administration’s policies.’ So we know what Trump’s first administration policies were, and we’re pretty sure we know what the second Trump administration’s policies are, but it’d be good to see the rolling out of that, because we want a little bit clearer picture of what they are.”

Many speakers at the march praised Trump’s Thursday pardon of two dozen anti-abortion activists convicted of blocking access to abortion clinics. And while none of Trump’s blitz of executive orders so far have addressed abortion directly, some seized on tidbits tucked into some of those orders that they considered messages of support for their movement.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, for instance, pointed to language in Trump’s executive order revoking all federal recognition of transgender people that he argued “defines life as beginning at conception rather than birth.”

“We are entering a new era,” Johnson said. “This new White House has already shown its resolve.”

Trump, who in 2020 became the first sitting president to address the March for Life in person, also said in his Friday video address that his Department of Justice will “investigate the radical left attacks on churches and crisis pregnancy centers” and “bring perpetrators to justice.”

Some anti-abortion leaders, including Dannenfelser, argued Friday that Trump and Vance’s appearances at the event is a sign they will eventually deliver on the executive orders that they expected to be signed in his first days in office.

“I’m not concerned yet. Ask me in a couple weeks,” she said with a laugh. “If you have no intention of leading as a pro-life vice president, you don’t show up at the March for Life as your first public appearance, and you don’t send a video to the March for Life as the president. So I think that is a source of great optimism.”

Others at the event, including attorney Erik Baptist with Alliance Defending Freedom — the organization that spearheaded a lawsuit last year aimed at cutting off access to abortion pills nationwide — posited that Trump may be waiting until his cabinet secretaries are installed to take action.

“In theory, I’m not very worried,” he told POLITICO. “Obviously, we would love to see him repeal [Biden regulations on abortion] as soon as possible, but sometimes you need the nominee to be confirmed first before you take such significant decisions from an agency. So I think we’re still hopeful.”

Trump signed several anti-abortion executive orders during his first couple days in office in his first term in 2017, but has not yet indicated if and when he will do so in his second term.

If the rest of the movement’s list of demands aren’t met soon, some anti-abortion leaders at the march said, the same groups that worked to get him elected are going to start speaking out in protest.

“It’s important for the community to raise their voice to say, ‘It’s great to say you’re pro-life, it’s great to pardon pro-life prisoners. Those are fantastic things. But let’s talk brass tacks,’” Rose said. “What are you doing to save lives, to get government funding out of abortion?”

Amanda Friedman contributed to this report.