WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — Vice President J.D. Vance reassured Americans at the 52nd annual March for Life that the federal government will no longer raid and imprison pro-life activists like Mark Houck.
“No longer will the federal government direct FBI raids on the homes of people like Mark Houck and other Catholic and Christian activists who are fighting for the unborn every single day,” declared Vance on Friday during the pre-march rally at the grounds of the Washington Monument.
“No more FBI raids on pro-lifers like Mark Houck” | VP @JDVance at the March for Life 2025 pic.twitter.com/EjDqHOoJpJ
— LifeSiteNews (@LifeSite) January 24, 2025
“And no longer will our government throw pro-life protestors and activists, elderly, grandparents or anybody else in prison. It stops on Monday and we’re not going to let it come back to this country.”
He pointed out that President Donald Trump has already, as of Thursday, issued pardons to peaceful pro-lifers imprisoned under Biden’s administration.
While Vance celebrated the pro-life conviction and work of his audience, he lamented that American society as a whole had “failed the culture, not only by permitting abortion on demand,” but also by neglecting to help young parents achieve the ingredients they need to live a happy and meaningful life.”
He attributed both the pro-abortion mentality and the failure to equip parents for their task to “a culture of radical individualism” wherein “the responsibilities and joys of family life were seen as obstacles” rather than blessings.
“Our society has failed to recognize the obligation that one generation has to another is a core part of this society to begin with,” continued Vance.
“I want more babies in the USA. I want more happy children in our country. And I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them. It is the task of our government to make it easier for young moms and dads to afford kids, to bring them into the world, and to welcome them as the blessings that we know they are,” said the Vice President.
“The benchmark of national success is not our GDP number or our stock market but whether people feel that they can raise thriving and healthy families in our country,” he opined.
In his pre-election debates, Vance has stressed that he wants the Republican Party to be pro-family in the “fullest sense of the word,” meaning support for fertility treatments as well as unspecified policies to make childcare and housing more affordable, while allowing states to reach different conclusions on abortion policy.
Other pro-life advocates maintain that deeper reasons than finances underlie women’s willingness to have an abortion rather than carry their child to term, including religiosity and simply attitudes towards children. In fact, a 2015 study shows that affluent women are significantly more likely to have abortions.
Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, has previously described himself as “100% pro-life.” However, he has since endorsed abortion in certain circumstances, including for rape, as well as a 2024 Supreme Court decision that partially upheld the availability of abortion pills.
He has also backed in vitro fertilization, signing a letter last year declaring that he “strongly support(s) continued nationwide access to IVF,” which involves the destruction of millions of human embryos and which the Catholic Church condemns as gravely immoral.
Pro-lifers stress that every preborn life is worthy of protection from the moment of birth, no matter the circumstances of conception.
The Catholic Church also teaches that abortion is a grave sin and that Catholics must oppose it.
“Since the first century the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion. This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable,” the Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches. “Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.”
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