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Triumphs for Life in Trump’s First Week

What a week for the pro-life cause in America - I almost don’t know where to begin!

Four days after the Inauguration of Donald Trump as the 47th president of the United States, the March for Life celebrated 51 years on Friday in Washington D.C. The march first began on the one year anniversary of Roe v. Wade in January 1974, and has gone from strength to strength ever since. 

This year however, marked not just a gathering to protest abortion and to stand up for the one million babies killed in the womb every year in the U.S, but also a great celebration. 

The day before the event it was not only announced that Vice President JD Vance would be speaking in person, but President Trump - in the Oval Office in front of news cameras - signed pardons for the 23 pro-lifers who had been so unjustly convicted (some still imprisoned) by the Biden administration for praying at abortion clinics. 

The president remarked

“23 people were prosecuted, they should not have been prosecuted, many of them were elderly people…This is a great honour to sign this.”

On Thursday afternoon (just before the pardons were enacted), the president and president elect of March for Life (Jeanne Mancini, and Jennie Bradley Lichter), jointly had this to say: 

We are thrilled that Vice President Vance has chosen the National March for Life for his first public appearance in his new role - a sign of his commitment to standing up for life. President Trump governed as a pro-life president during his first term which resulted in a long list of accomplishments. We look forward to working with him and Vice President Vance, as they dismantle the Biden administration’s aggressive and unpopular abortion agenda and once again put wins on the board for vulnerable unborn children and their mothers.

And the new Vice president did not disappoint on the day, saying: 

“We need a culture that celebrates life at all stages. One that recognises and truly believes that the benchmark of national success is not our GDP number or our stock market, but whether people feel that they can raise thriving and healthy families in our country.” 

He then added:

“I want to be clear, this administration stands by you, we stand with you and most importantly, we stand with the most vulnerable. And, the basic principle that people exercising the right to protest on behalf of the most vulnerable, should never have the government go after them ever again.”

But the wins for life and stellar political speakers didn’t stop there. VP Vance was joined by the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (who is third in line to the presidency), as well as the new Senate Majority Leader John Thune. Previous presidential candidate and very popular Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, also spoke at the event. 

Governor DeSantis said we should be asking our elected officials to: 

“Show courage in defence of the unborn. That’s what we need in the people we elect to office. The sanctity of life does not depend on poll results, it doesn’t depend on which way the wind is blowing, it's an enduring truth and it represents the foundation of our society.”

John Thune’s remarks were uplifting. He reminded the crowd that although the fight for life may seem like an uphill battle sometimes, the tens of thousands in attendance proved “That you are not alone. You are part of a great movement. United around the truth that every life is precious. That every human being is created in the image and likeness of God and has infinite value and worth.” He then quoted Psalm 139. 

The Speaker was no less inspirational; telling the story of how he himself was the product of an unplanned, teen pregnancy in 1972, the year before Roe became the law of the land. He said:

"I am so eternally grateful that my mom and dad ignored all the people who told them to just 'take care of that problem', and that they chose to embrace life and to have me, the first of their four children. It's a very simple fact, if they had not done that then I would not be here. I often wonder, who else we have missed, and what those individuals might have contributed to our society and our world but they were just never given the opportunity."

President Trump wasn’t absent either. Although he couldn’t attend the march in person - as he was touring the areas of the country devastated by hurricane Helene and the recent wildfires - he did send a powerful video message to the march and the pro-life community. 

The president said: 

“Each year Americans of every age, colour and background travel to our nation's capital by the tens of thousands to stand up for precious little babies who cannot stand up for themselves.” 

He went on to talk of his pride in being the first president ever to attend the March for Life in person, and in being a participant in the overturn of Roe v. Wade. He then said: 

“In my second term we will again stand proudly for families and for life.” He continued “We will work to offer a loving hand to new mothers and young families and we will support adoption and foster care. We will protect women and vulnerable children.” 

The president also vowed to: 

“End the weaponization of law enforcement against Americans of faith. I am releasing the Christians and pro-life activists who were persecuted by the Biden regime for praying and living out their faith.” 

Trump then recounted a personal story of one of the elderly Christian, pro-life ladies (Paulette Harlow) who had been imprisoned before concluding: 

“Never again will religious persecution be allowed to happen in America. To all of the very special people marching today in this bitter cold, I know your hearts are warm and your spirits are strong, because your mission is just very very pure. To forge a society that welcomes and protects every child as a beautiful gift from the hand of our creator. Thank you for never losing hope and never giving up.”   

Think about it, the leaders of the U.S House and Senate joined the President and Vice President of the United States and arguably the most popular Governor in the country...in speaking up for the unborn! Right now, I am very jealous of America. 

More political wins this week

Shortly after assuming office on Monday, one of the Trump/Vance administration’s first acts was to take down the government website which had been opened by the Biden Administration, to promote abortion on demand at the expense of the taxpayer. ReproductiveRights.gov, I am delighted to say, no longer exists!

Trump also signed an executive order on Monday re-affirming that there are only two genders. Although this order is chiefly concerned with protecting single sex spaces and language, it did contain a couple of very interesting points from a pro-life perspective as well. 

Under definitions the order has this to say: 

“Female” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the large reproductive cell.”

“Male” means a person belonging, at conception, to the sex that produces the small reproductive cell.”

Trump, it would seem, believes that we are who we are from conception. 

Even more surprisingly, it seems that the New York Times might believe it too. They ran a headline on Thursday in response to Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship which read: “Undocumented Women Ask: Will My Unborn Child Be a Citizen?” Really NYT, an unborn child and not a clump of cells? I’m so glad you have changed your mind on this issue! 

Emboldened by the new administration’s pro-life stance, Mike Lee, Senator for Utah, has announced that he and Congressman Chip Roy of Texas, are bringing a bill before the House and Senate to repeal the FACE Act, which was weaponized by the Biden Administration to put those 23 peaceful pro-lifers in prison in the first place. In fact, although the Face Act (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) was ‘supposed’ to protect pro-life pregnancy centres as well as abortion clinics, 97% of FACE Act prosecutions from 1994 to 2024, were against pro-life Americans (per the Daily Signal). 

Senator Lee and Congressman Roy aren’t the only ones either. Republican senator for Iowa Joni Ernst, introduced legislation on Wednesday the 22nd of January, to prohibit federal funding for Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the U.S, responsible for killing more than 1000 babies every day. 

What’s more, a recent national poll (Jan 2025), shows this is in line with the will of the people. 57% of Americans oppose or strongly oppose using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions in the US and 73% oppose funding abortions overseas. 

Senator for Kentucky Dr Rand Paul also reintroduced the Defund Planned Parenthood Act on Thursday, saying on X: 

“Ahead of the 2025 March of Life tomorrow, I reintroduced the Defund Planned Parenthood Act. Life begins at conception, and I’ve spent my time in the senate fighting to protect the right to life.”

On Wednesday, Arkansas Governor Sarah Sanders lowered state flags to mark the anniversary of Roe v. Wade and mourn the loss of 65 million American babies. Since 2021, the state legislature of Arkansas has recognised January the 22nd as the Day of Tears to remember the 236,243 babies killed in the state under Roe v. Wade. Arkansas is now one of the most pro-life states in the U.S, allowing abortion only to save the life of the mother. 

On Friday, Trump's new Secretary of State Marco Rubio, announced that the U.S is re-joining the Geneva Consensus. This declaration which was co-sponsored by the United States, Brazil, Uganda, Egypt, Hungary and Indonesia during Trump's first term and now has 35 signatories; states as one of it's four objectives that it will "protect life at all stages"

Congressman Mark Harris from North Carolina also introduced new legislation on Friday, which aims to block abortion pills being sent in the mail. Given the HUGE rise in 'pills by post' being sent into pro-life states since 2023, this legislation has the potential to save tens of thousands of lives!

The President also re-instated the global gag rule (Mexico City Policy) in honour of the March for Life - which cuts off funds to organisations that promote or perform abortions - and rescinded two Biden executive actions related to abortion. One which imposed a whole of government effort to expand access to abortion, and another that categorised abortion as 'healthcare'. 

And it’s not just politics

Abortion has been front and centre over the last few weeks in the U.S, in other ways as well.

Hollywood legend Mel Gibson was on the Joe Rogan podcast 2 weeks ago (even as his house was burning to the ground in Malibu), and he spent a large portion of the interview talking about his faith in God and the truth of the Gospel. 

Mel also spoke about some of his movies, and when talking about Apocalypto poignantly said: 

I think basically what I was doing was trying to do was talk about our time now and the civilization that we live in, and how close are we to collapse, and what are the things that lead to collapse? You know, it's environmental stuff, it's human sacrifice. I mean, we do do that. We do.”

Even though Rogan didn’t seem to be on the same wavelength at first, it’s almost certain (and the wider media agrees) that Mel was talking about abortion. That episode currently has nearly 9 million views on YouTube

Almost as if to prove Mel’s point, notorious abortionist Warren Hern retired 2 days after the inauguration; after 50 years specialising in second and third trimester abortions at his Colorado clinic. Hern is famous for once saying:

The sensations of dismemberment flow through the forceps like an electric current.

Child sacrifice indeed Mr Gibson! 

An interview with Hern in The Atlantic in May of 2023 states that “after Roe, he is as busy with patients as ever.” And that he “stopped performing first-trimester abortions a few years ago; he saw too much need for later abortions”...so much for the Democrats cry that late term abortions never happen except in the most extreme circumstances.

This week abortion has been debated extensively on the floor of the senate in response to senator Langford of Oklahoma’s bill the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act

Yes you did read that correctly, the United States senate actually had a debate on whether or not to legislate that a living, breathing baby - born alive after a failed abortion attempt - should be given medical care!

I was a little shocked by this bill. Unfortunately not because I was surprised that it would even be debated at all, but because I knew that the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act had been signed into law by president Bush in 2002. 

But it turns out there’s a loophole. While the 2002 Act does prevent an abortionist from actively killing a baby born alive after a failed abortion attempt, it doesn't stop them from leaving it to die from exposure. That is what this new bill was designed to do. 

Perhaps you are thinking that this is surely unnecessary, I mean, who could possibly argue that a tiny and helpless crying infant could just be left to die when there may be a chance to save his or her life? 

Well, it turns out that every single Democrat senator could…all 47 of them voted against the bill! 

Every Republican (bar one who was absent for a family emergency and was on record as being a supporter), voted for it. However, the bill required 60 votes to advance, so it was defeated in the senate. 

However, I am delighted to say that a day later, it was passed into law by the US House of Representatives as H.R.21 (by the same name, The Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act). This bill, sponsored by Republican Congresswoman Ann Wagner, passed the 119th Congress by a vote largely along party lines 217 - 204.

Tim Walz won’t be happy. After all, in 2023 he signed 2 bills into law that legalised abortion through all 9 months for any reason, and made it legal to leave babies to die if they survived an abortion. 

Kamala Harris and the Democrats railed against Trump in the campaign and in the debates, claiming this never happens and no-one wants it. Turns out (surprise surprise) that was a lie on both counts! 

The data shows that about 1% of abortions in the US happen after 21 weeks (the point at which babies are now surviving from if born prematurely). That’s 10,000 potentially viable, pain capable infants every year. 

Sometimes God writes with a wonky pencil

Trump isn’t perfect and I would never deny that he is a blunt instrument. He’s not as pro-life as I would like and we must all keep up the pressure to bring an end to the slaughter of babies (of any age) in the womb. 

But I am thankful that the last week has seen so many wins for the pro-life cause. Even the losses (like the senate vote on the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Act), are helping to bring the conversation to the fore and highlight the injustice and hypocrisy of this position to the people of the United States. 

Also, we know what happens in the US impacts the rest of the world, so join me in praying for the Trump team over the next 4 years, and Join Us to help make abortion unthinkable here in the UK.