Vice President JD Vance is scheduled to address the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Friday, January 23, 2026, organizers and his office said. It will be his second consecutive appearance at the event, which is held each January near the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision and typically draws large crowds to the National Mall.
The March for Life, held annually in Washington, centers on opposition to abortion and is staged around the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Organizers say the 2026 theme is “Life is a Gift,” framing the event as a call to “rediscover the beauty, goodness, and joy of life itself.”
A spokesman for Vance told The Daily Wire that the vice president “is grateful to the tens of thousands of Americans who travel to the National Mall each year to speak out in support of life” and said he is “looking forward to joining them for the second consecutive year.” The spokesman also credited President Donald Trump with delivering “more victories for the pro-life movement than any president in history” and said Vance would continue to work with the administration on abortion-related policy.
The Daily Wire reported that Vance spoke at last year’s March for Life ahead of Trump’s inauguration, and that he told the crowd then, “we will be back next year.” In that 2025 address, Vance said, “It is a blessing to know the truth, and the truth is that unborn life is worthy of protection,” urging marchers to “go forth, not with frustration, but with joy.” He also told attendees: “We are joyful to March for Life … It is a joy and a blessing to fight for the unborn, to work for the unborn, and to March for Life.”
March for Life President Jennie Bradley Lichter, who assumed the role in February 2025, said she was pleased Vance plans to return. She told The Daily Wire: “We are absolutely delighted that he’s keeping his promise and coming back to spend the day again with our pro-life marchers gathered from across the country to stand up for life.” She added that she hoped for “exciting news for the pro-life movement,” but did not provide details.
The March for Life organization’s published speaker lineup for 2026 includes House Speaker Mike Johnson among those slated to appear.
The event also comes as Trump highlights actions taken on abortion policy. In his first term, Trump reinstated the Mexico City Policy by presidential memorandum in January 2017. Separately, the White House says Trump signed an executive order titled “Enforcing the Hyde Amendment” on January 24, 2025, directing the executive branch to implement policy consistent with long-standing restrictions on federal funding for elective abortion.
Trump has previously addressed the March for Life as well. In remarks released by the White House from a March for Life appearance in January 2020, he told attendees, “Unborn children have never had a stronger defender in the White House.”
Lichter has argued that the movement is drawing younger participants and pointed to polling she says shows support among Generation Z for abortion limits. The March for Life organization has also promoted the idea that the annual event brings in large numbers of attendees, though precise crowd counts vary by year and by the methodology used to estimate them.
