Staff Reports
The national March for Life in Washington wasn’t just a sea of familiar faces in rosaries and red scarves this year — it also drew a surprising contingent of left-of-center activists who say they’re pro-life feminists and want a seat at the table. These self-identified progressives told reporters they came because they believe opposing abortion is consistent with values like equality and non-violence, and they made that point loudly on the National Mall.
Among those voices were women tied to groups like New Wave Feminists and Secular Pro-Life, who argued that feminism should protect the most vulnerable, including the unborn. They insisted that calling an unborn child a disposable or parasitic object betrays every principle a true feminist should hold, and they challenged mainstream feminists who equate women’s liberation with abortion access.
Make no mistake: the March for Life remains a big, mainstream event with elected leaders, church groups, and everyday Americans showing up to defend life and family. Patriotic citizens from every walk of life — workers, faith leaders, veterans, and yes, even some dissident leftists — stood together to say that human dignity doesn’t turn on ideology.
Conservative Americans should welcome anyone who genuinely rejects the culture of death, but we should also be clear-eyed about what’s happening on the left. Some who claim the label of feminist still applaud policies and language that dehumanize the unborn, and when activists on the Mall had to call out rhetoric comparing babies to parasites, it exposed the moral bankruptcy at the heart of the pro-abortion movement.
This moment provides a real opportunity for conservatives to sharpen our message: defend life and back it up with public policy that supports mothers, families, and communities. Pro-life conservatives have long argued that being pro-life includes caring for the child after birth — shelter, healthcare, education, and economic opportunity — and those commonsense commitments win hearts and votes when they’re presented boldly and compassionately.
So let’s not sneer at these left-leaning converts; let’s recruit them to the cause of life while holding fast to the values that built this country. Hardworking Americans know that protecting the weak and celebrating human dignity are not partisan slogans but the bedrock of a free and decent society, and conservatives should lead with strength, charity, and conviction.
