The Associated Press. Protesters had come to the capital for decades to call for the repeal of Roe v. Wade, which affirmed a constitutional right to an abortion. Now, with the repeal of Roe in , they are now on the inside rather than the outside. But he has already made quieter moves on abortion, including enforcing the Hyde Amendment, which restricts government funding for most abortions. Since it was introduced over 40 years ago, every GOP president has put it in effect, and every Democrat has rescinded it.
Trump also pardoned several right to life activists and used wording related to fetal personhood in an executive order rolling back protections for transgender people. Anthony Pro-Life America group. Kristen Cooper, 21, was among several thousand Students for Life America members attending. She said she was especially excited to be at the march with anti-abortion Republicans in the White House. She said this march was her fourth but the first with a Republican administration.
Anna Henderson, a teacher at a Catholic high school near Jackson, Michigan, was also attending her fourth march with a busload of her students. Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America, said there is still work to be done, including calling on Trump to defund Planned Parenthood and offer resources such as paid family leave to women with unplanned pregnancies.
The battle over abortion since the decision, has been in state courts and at the ballot box where voters in seven states approved ballot measures for constitutional amendments on reproductive freedom in November. Legislatures have been fighting back already with proposals that could make such measures more difficult to get passed.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis celebrated the defeat of an abortion rights amendment on the March for Life stage and boasted about his role in the state-funded campaign against the measure. Most states require a simple majority. Ellie Smeal, president and founder of the Feminist Majority Foundation, said her group would counterprotest.
