EWTN Invites You to Join Tens of Thousands Who Stand, March, Rally, Walk for Life
By EWTN News
Every January, the National March for Life draws tens of thousands of people to Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. for what organizers say is “the largest annual human rights demonstration in the world.” This year’s theme is “Life Is a Gift,” which the March for Life official website says emphasizes the “unshakeable conviction that life is very good and worthy of protection, no matter the circumstances.”
EWTN’s live televised coverage of the festivities surrounding the March for Life begins Thursday, Jan. 22 at 5 pm ET with a vigil mass, followed by a holy hour at 7 pm ET and continues Friday, Jan. 23, with mass at 8 am ET at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. Coverage of the concert and rally at the National Mall and the march to Capitol Hill kickoff at 9:30 am, lasting throughout the day, until the Life Fest at 3 pm ET. EWTN is also providing live coverage of the Walk for Life West Coast on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 2:30 p.m. ET in San Francisco and OneLife LA on Saturday, Jan. 24 at 5 p.m. ET in Los Angeles as well as the Requiem Mass for the Unborn on Jan. 24 at 8 p.m. ET. from the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles.
This year at the March for Life rally in Washington, U.S. Vice President Vance will join Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Rep. Chris Smith, R-New Jersey.
“Vice President Vance is grateful to the tens of thousands of Americans who travel to the National Mall each year to speak out in support of life and looks forward to joining them for the second consecutive year,” a spokesperson for the vice president told EWTN News about the 53rd annual pro-life event.
Vance will be attending and speaking at the event for the second time as vice president. He spoke at the March for Life in 2025.
Other 2026 speakers include Jennie Bradley Lichter, this year’s March for Life president; Sarah Hurm, a mother of four, who experience the start a chemical abortion and then reversed it and saved her baby, which led her to pro-life advocacy; and Elizabeth Pillsbury Oliver, president of Georgetown University Right to Life and a Catholic convert, who will offer a pro-life student’s perspective and about how her faith gives her courage to defend life.
The festivities on the National Mall on Jan. 23 will kick off with a pre-rally concert at 11 a.m. ET by Sanctus Real, a Grammy-nominated and Dove Award-winning Christian band.
Then the rally will kick off at 12 p.m. ET and will feature the keynote speakers as well as a National Anthem performance by Friends of Club 21 Choir, a chorus of young adults with Down Syndrome, and a lineup of speakers.
The crowd will depart from the National Mall at 1 p.m. ET for the march and will make its way to the ending point at the Supreme Court building.
The first March for Life was on January 22, 1974, in Washington, D.C. It took place one year after the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision legalized abortion nationwide. While the Dobbs decision returned the decision to the states in 2022, the organization continues its mission to protect life at the state and federal levels.
“The March for Life is not just a protest…It is a celebration of each and every life, from the moment of conception,” organizers of the event said. “We envision a world where every life is celebrated, valued, and protected. We envision a world where these moments are celebrated, valued, and protected by everybody—both in the private sector and in the public sphere.”
The National Prayer Vigil for Life
The National Prayer Vigil for Life at The Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception begins Thursday, Jan. 22 at 5 p.m. ET with the opening mass. The Vigil is hosted annually by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities. The National Holy Hour for Life will follow at 7 p.m. ET. Seminarians lead the overnight vigil until the closing mass on Friday, Jan. 23 at 8 a.m. ET.
Life Fest
The Knights of Columbus and Sisters of Life will host Life Fest at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center, in Oxon Hill, Maryland. Life Fest includes live music from the Sisters of Life’s band, ‘All the Living,’ with Father Isaiah, CFR, Damascus Worship, followed by a Eucharistic procession and mass. The event will also include opportunities for confession, first-class relic veneration, and powerful witnesses, including pro-life advocate and founder of Live Action Lila Rose.
