At the annual March for Life in Washington, DC on Friday, a “hello pro-life America” chant grows as bobble hats, ear muffs and Charlie Kirk signs accumulate. To my left, a man in a gray suit with a cobalt blue mullet scrolls Google, searching for the definition of “euthanasia.” On my right, a gaggle of teenage boys workshop an ICE jingle while one of them beatboxes. Vice President JD Vance will speak, thousands are expected, and to top it all off, a major snowstorm is rolling in.
In the wake of Kirk’s death last September, this year’s march reflects a heightened urgency to make abortion a political priority. Kirk heavily advocated for the pro-life movement, saying, “it’s not enough to be against abortion; we have to actually help women choose life,” a stance his widow, Erika, now the CEO of Turning Point USA, the conservative organization her late husband created, has continued to espouse in public events. Now, Kirk’s influence is palpable as young people from Turning Point USA, Students For Life, and Counteract USA, among other groups, mobilize at the March for Life.
And with Vance, a potential 2028 presidential candidate, aligning himself so closely with the pro-life movement, there’s little ambiguity throughout the day about where attendees’ votes will eventually land.
People hold a Charlie Kirk sign as they march in the 53rd annual March for Life rally in Washington, DC, on January 23, 2026.
SAUL LOEB/Getty Images
“We’re here because life begins at conception,” Lily, a 17-year-old from Chicago, tells me. “We’re here to save all the babies, and we won’t stop coming until till abortion is ended.” She has traveled with peers from St. James at Sag Bridge Catholic Church in Illinois and lands, without hesitation, on Kirk and Candace Owens being her role models.
In the background, Christian music plays out across the capitol grounds as the crowd enjoys the rally and performances that are a prelude to the march. Like much of the young conservative activism circuit, it’s similar to a festival, with entertainment and celebrations drawing out over a few days.
Signs of the annual rally, which has been held in Washington since 1974, when it started as a protest against Roe v. Wade, began when I stepped off the Amtrak at DC’s Union Station on Thursday. Looking up at the vaulted marble ceiling, it was almost easy to miss the group of people being siphoned off from the train behind a wall decorated with grass into a private networking event for The White Rose Resistance. The group, who call themselves a nationwide movement with a mission to be “a voice for unborn children,” share their name with the nonviolent German resistance group led by Hans and Sophie Scholl against the Nazis.
