Two years after the fall of Roe v. Wade and the birth of a new era in the pro-life movement, pro-life activists are gathering in the nation’s capital for a “National Celebrate Life Weekend” to rally support for the cause of life and push for more protections for the unborn at every level of government.
This year’s event, which is an extension of the National Celebrate Life Day last June, will feature remarks from conservative podcaster Matt Walsh, President of Students for Life Kristan Hawkins, President and CEO of 40 Days for Life Shawn Carney, Congressman Bob Good (R-VA), and other prominent pro-life voices. The event will be organized and hosted by several of the leading pro-life organizations in the country, including Students for Life, Sidewalk Advocates for Life, 40 Days for Life, Pro-Love Ministries, And Then There Were None and the Pro-Life Partners Foundation.
The event’s website encourages pro-lifers to “join us again this year for the first annual National Celebrate Life Weekend, an expanded time to celebrate, learn, and strategize with a conference, gala, and rally.” The three-day event will culminate with a gathering at the Lincoln Memorial.
Last year’s event saw more than 5,000 pro-lifers descend on the nation’s capital in a remarkable display of support on the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs Supreme Court decision which overturned Roe. Along with the annual March for Life, which regularly draws more than 100,000 pro-lifers to Washington, the enthusiastic support for the National Celebrate Life Weekend is proof of the strong grassroots backing for the pro-life movement that exists in the United States, despite the media narrative to the contrary.
Last year’s gathering notably came as pro-abortion activists also turned out to oppose the Dobbs decision and call for a federal law enshrining the right to abortion. As the Washington Examiner reported, that event “featured an all-star lineup of pro-life figures and attendees from across generations ringing in a new era of their movement with hope and solidarity.” Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch, who led the pro-life case in Dobbs, offered remarks, as did podcaster Michael Knowles and former Vice President Mike Pence, among others.
“Altogether,” the Examiner report continued, “the leaders and their cheering supporters made it clear that ending the murder of the unborn is the first step, not the last, in building a society that affirms life.”
Jordan Estabrook, a representative for Students for Life, told AMAC Newsline that this year’s Celebrate Life Weekend is “a way for the pro-life movement to celebrate a decision nearly 50 years in the making and continue to strategize and energize us for the challenges ahead. While some may want to shy away from the issue of abortion, especially during a tense election cycle, we don’t. Life is at stake every day, election season or not.”
Kristi Hamrick, also of Students for Life, added that, despite some setbacks at the state level over the past two years, the pro-life movement could be poised for great progress moving forward. “We have many options for pro-life work at the local, state, and federal levels of government, as well as in our communities,” Hamrick said. “It’s up to us in the pro-life movement to articulate and promote a vision of a world in which all are welcomed in life and in law. Events like Celebrate Life remind us of a tremendous achievement but also of the tremendous opportunity we have and can act on in Congress, state houses, and in our communities.”
When asked about concerns that the pro-life issue could hurt Republicans at the ballot box, Hamrick advised candidates to not “run from the pro-abortion bully.”
“The Biden-Harris extremists that control the Democrat Party have made it clear that they intend to make abortion their only offering to voters,” Hamrick continued. “Everyone running for office needs to be ready to answer the question of whether they are pro-life and what they intend to do to protect life in service and in law.”
The groups hosting the Celebrate Life Weekend hope to make the gathering an annual display of the continuing momentum of the pro-life movement even after the fall of Roe. As several of the organizers reiterated to AMAC Newsline, Dobbs was just the beginning of a far more important mission to help more women choose life.
Anyone interested in attending this year’s event can register to do so here.
Shane Harris is a writer and political consultant from Southwest Ohio. You can follow him on X @shaneharris513.
So excited to attend again this year! The pro-life movement needs to keep pressing in and be ready to take on the new landscape in the states and federally too. It took almost 50 years to defeat Roe, now we need to take on this next mantle of equal rights for all!
I’m sure the corrupt, partisan media won’t cover this.