WASHINGTON (LifeSiteNews) — In preparation for the annual pro-life event’s return to the nation’s capital next week, the 49th annual March for Life has announced its lineup of speakers pro-life participants will hear from on January 21.
The March, which this year is adopting the theme “Equality Begins in the Womb,” unveiled Tuesday its list of speakers and performers who will address the crowd, including Christian actor Kirk Cameron, Reps. Julia Letlow (R-LA) and Chris Smith (D-NJ), Relationship Matters founder Toni McFadden, Duck Dynasty’s Lisa Robertson, “Bible in a Year” podcast host Mike Schmitz, Down syndrome advocate Katie Shaw, Christendom College student George Schuberg, Alliance Defending Freedom attorney Kristen Waggoner, and nurse Rachel Young.
Archbishop Elpidophoros of America and Cissie Graham Lynch will deliver the opening and closing prayers. Musician Matthew West will perform prior to the rally.
“We are delighted to welcome these incredible speakers to the March for Life,” said March for Life Education & Defense Fund president Jeanne Mancini. “Americans everywhere know that unborn children deserve equal rights and protection under the law. We expect this year’s March for Life to be historic with even higher levels of enthusiasm from participants. We are hopeful that, with Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization before the Supreme Court, 2022 will bring us much closer to building the culture of life we have all marched for since Roe v. Wade was tragically imposed on our nation nearly 50 years ago.”
Many have anticipated a return to the in-person march this year after the core marching component, which normally takes hundreds of thousands of pro-lifers from the Washington Monument all the way to the steps of the U.S. Supreme Court, was canceled last year, citing COVID-19 and the “heightened pressures that law enforcement officers and others are currently facing in and around the Capitol.”
But despite this year’s ostensible return to form, pro-lifers have been frustrated by the news that the March for Life has canceled its annual expo due to the District of Columbia’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for indoor venues, imposed by Democrat Mayor Muriel Bowser, and will comply with the requirement of proof of vaccination or negative COVID test for its Rose Dinner Gala and Capitol Hill 101 events.
“The mayor of Washington, D.C. (who we know is 100% pro-abortion as she literally had us arrested last summer for sidewalk chalking ‘Black Preborn Lives Matter’ on a public sidewalk) is doing everything possible to make the pro-life movement cancel our events surrounding the 49th anniversary of Roe,” said Students for Life president Kristan Hawkins of the situation. “Literally, millions of lives are on the line as we begin working in our states to secure a post Roe future. Don’t let them win!”