JD Vance Headlines 2026 March For Life, Reveals Policy Change

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The theme for the March For Life this year is “Life Is A Gift.” After the news this week, no one better personified that theme than Vice President JD Vance.

As our readers know, the Vances announced on Tuesday that they are expected baby number four, a boy. (Bitter harpies need not weigh in on this happy event.) JD Vance opened his speech at the March For Life today by speaking about this new gift of life that their family will be receiving – and asking for prayers, as they add a third boy to the family. (As a mother of three boys and one girl, I offer JD and Usha my prayers in solidarity.)

The entire speech by Vice President Vance can be watched here:

In the speech, however, JD Vance announced a policy change by the Trump administration. Last year, the administration had just been sworn in, and hadn’t yet had a chance to do anything aside from executive orders signed by President Trump. This year, the administration is not only demonstrating how they personally value life (the Vances will be the first vice presidential family to welcome a baby in over 150 years), but are shaping policy to reflect this value.

The Trump administration will expand the “Mexico City” policy that restricts U.S. aid to foreign organizations that provide or promote abortions to include advocates of “radical gender ideologies” and diversity, equity and inclusion policies, Vice President JD Vance announced Friday at the March For Life.

“Now we’re expanding this policy to protect life, to combat DEI and the radical gender ideologies that prey on our children,” Vance told the crowd in Washington, D.C.

Vance added that the Mexico City policy was being increased to “about three times as big as it was before, and we’re proud of it, because we believe in fighting for life.”

The policy was first implemented by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 at a United Nations conference in Mexico City to prevent U.S. foreign aid from being used to promote abortion in other nations.

The funding restriction has been rescinded by Democratic presidents since it was implemented and reinstated by Republican presidents, most recently when Donald Trump returned to office in January of last year.

Trump addressed the crowd of anti-abortion attendees of the march in a pre-recorded video ahead of Vance’s remarks.

“We’re bringing back faith in America,” Trump said in the video. “We’re bringing back God. We have stopped forced taxpayer funding of abortion at home and abroad.”

President Trump’s prerecorded message was shown at the march, thanking those who came to the march. But he left the announcement of the Mexico City policy expansion to JD Vance.

The march also received a message from Pope Leo XIV (the first American pope), commending their work and affirming their message.

Stressing that the protection of the right to life “constitutes the indispensable foundation of every other human right,” Leo said that society “is healthy and truly progresses only when it safeguards the sanctity of human life and works actively to promote it.”

“In this regard,” Leo continued, “I would encourage you, especially the young people, to continue striving to ensure that life is respected in all of its stages through appropriate efforts at every level of society, including dialogue with civil and political leaders.”

The first pope from the United States of America, Pope Leo XIV — then Robert Prevost — was reportedly a marcher during at least one of the event’s earliest years.

Several other popes have addressed the U.S. March for Life in various forms such as via social media, though Leo’s message appears to be the first official letter directly from a pope and bearing his signature.

Despite the messages from President Trump and Pope Leo, the speech and personal testimony from JD Vance, and the upcoming expansion of the Mexico City policy, the March For Life is a sober reminder that the fight for life happens at the individual level. One of the biggest issues right now is the growing use of the so-called “abortion pill” mifepristone.

“This is the Wild West, and this is the greatest public health crisis,” Live Action founder Lila Rose told The Daily Wire on Thursday. “The on-demand sale of the abortion pill via our mail system is the biggest public health crisis that we are facing.”

Restrictions on the pill have become wildly lax. During the Biden years, for example, mifepristone was permitted to be sent through the mail. Now, more than 60% of all abortions include abortion pills, a significant increase from past years.

Pro-lifers want the pill taken off the market, not only for killing unborn humans, but because of how dangerous they say the pill is for women, especially when guardrails are virtually nonexistent.

“There are thousands of women going to the emergency room with severe health complications, and sometimes life-threatening health complications because of the abortion pill,” Rose said. “There are hundreds of thousands of children being killed in this country annually by the abortion pill. It’s our biggest public health crisis.”

“The FDA can, in a moment, make a rule to ensure that the abortion pill requires at least one doctor’s visit,” Rose said. “There used to be three required doctor’s visits, and this was under the Clinton administration, when the pill was illegally under an emergency order fast-tracked in this country and put on the market. So that’s something the FDA could do tomorrow.”

“The FDA could pull mifepristone used as an abortifacient from the market tomorrow. Approval for that could happen within 24 hours – the administration has everything they need,” she said, adding that state-level data can be reviewed by the FDA.

Speaking to The Daily Wire on Wednesday, FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary stressed that a comprehensive review of the pill is something that will be done, and is currently in the data acquisition phase. However, he said, the science takes time.

The March For Life is correct to affirm and use the slogan “Life Is A Gift,” but we need more than that in America right now. We need the culture – especially social media – to stop complaining about motherhood and parenthood in general as a bad thing, as a deterrent to a fulfilling life, and as something to be avoided at all costs. Bethany Mandel has been hammering on the fact that motherhood is needs a public relations makeover, and she is correct. Banning the abortion pill may put one more barrier in the path of thoughtlessly killing a baby, but until women truly believe that “Life Is A Gift,” they don’t care if they throw it away. And it’s going to have to start with convincing the culture that motherhood is something that should be celebrated, not scorned as an impediment.

Each annual March For Life is both an affirmation and an encouragement to those of us who are pro-life. But there is always so much more to do. Usha and JD Vance, being public figures, are going to demonstrate just how wonderful a blessing a brand new baby can be to a family. Let’s hope that others heed their example.

Featured image: Vice President JD Vance, official White House portrait by Daniel Torok, cropped, public domain

The post JD Vance Headlines 2026 March For Life, Reveals Policy Change appeared first on Victory Girls Blog.



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