Thousands brave sub-zero temperatures on US March for Life

Despite freezing conditions and several inches of snow, thousands of pro-lifers marched against abortion in Washington DC last week.

Launched in protest at the nationwide legalisation of abortion in 1973, this year’s event was the second since the US Supreme Court handed back power to individual states to legislate on the issue.

Following the overturning of Roe v Wade in June 2022, fourteen states have restricted abortion, but eleven have made it even easier to get an abortion.

Cherish life

In his pre-march rally address, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson told the gathering: “I am, myself, a product of an unplanned pregnancy.

“In January of 1972, exactly one year before Roe v. Wade, my parents who were just teenagers at the time chose life. And I am very profoundly grateful that they did.”

Thanking the gathered crowd for “braving the weather”, he concluded: “We can stand with every woman for every child, and we can truly build a culture that cherishes and protects life.”

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

According to the organisers, the aim of the annual march is to “not only change laws at the state and federal level, but to change the culture to ultimately make abortion unthinkable”.

Texas and Ohio

Abortion figures have dropped dramatically in Texas since the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling, after which the state enacted a total ban except for “health and emergency” reasons.

Between January and May 2022, more than 14,500 abortions took place in Texas. In the same period in 2023, this had fallen to just 22, a drop of almost 99.85 per cent.

In November, however, the state of Ohio approved a radical pro-abortion amendment establishing a constitutional “right” to abortion in the state.

Issue One, which was passed by approximately 57 per cent in a public vote, claims every “individual has a right to make and carry out one’s own reproductive decisions”, including abortion.

44 million deaths

Recent figures compiled by Worldometer indicate that abortion claimed more than 44 million lives in 2023.

By comparison, infectious diseases were responsible for the second highest number of deaths at 13 million, followed by cancer at 8 million.

Worldometer estimated that the tally for all causes of death – apart from abortion – exceeded 60 million, meaning abortion accounted for more than 40 per cent of all deaths.