March for Life 2025 theme is ‘a return to basics’ after post-Dobbs defeats

The theme for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., this January is getting back to the basics of educating the public about abortion after a series of significant setbacks for the movement since the overturning of Roe v. Wade .

“We sense that clarity and hope and a return to basics is what we really need,” March for Life President Jeanne Mancini told the Washington Examiner in an exclusive interview before the theme announcement on Thursday.

March for Life has held an event protesting abortion in Washington every January since 1974, one year after Roe was decided.

The 2025 theme, Mancini said, is: “Every Life: Why We March.”

Mancini told the Washington Examiner that the theme for next year’s march needed to be rooted in the fundamentals to address the “sense of discouragement right now in the pro-life movement” as a result of cultural and political losses following the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision.

Democrats won moderate victories in the 2022 midterm elections, drawing enough blue voters to counteract the “red wave” that was anticipated prior to the Dobbs decision.

Republicans at the state level in 2022 and 2023 also struggled against Democratic messaging on the abortion issue.

Voters also have largely supported abortion rights in various state-level amendments and ballot initiatives over the past two years.

This cycle, Republican politicians have pulled back on anti-abortion efforts in an attempt to update their campaign strategy for a post-Dobbs world.

While Vice President Kamala Harris has centered her campaign on arguing that former President Donald Trump wants to establish a nationwide ban on abortion, Trump has supported a states-rights position that would allow states to permit the procedure with no gestational age restrictions.

This summer, the Republican Party platform dropped long-standing anti-abortion language. Trump and his running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), have also expressed tacit support for access to the abortion pill mifepristone.

Mancini said that the “Every Life: Why We March” theme will give the opportunity for members of the anti-abortion community to share their stories, humanizing the complex issue beyond a political discussion in an election year.

“As we’re working towards changing culture, these things take time,” Mancini told the Washington Examiner. “You’re going to have some moments of just sheer victory and then some really tough moments.”

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Mancini also hopes that the theme will allow for more opportunities to educate the public about the stages of fetal development and to clarify medical information about abortion and pregnancy emergencies, such as ectopic pregnancies and miscarriages.

“Abortion is the human rights abuse of our time, and we will have a day when it is unthinkable,” Mancini said. “But we have a lot of work to get there."