Trump's March for Life speech was damage control

On the agonizing relationship between Trump and the pro-life movement

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | AP Photo/Patrick Semansky, DickDuerrstein/iStock)

When Donald Trump addressed the crowd of an estimated 100,000 anti-abortion protesters at the annual March for Life on Friday, he became the first sitting American president to do so in person. Ronald Reagan telephoned a message of support in 1987, when the gathering was less than a tenth of its present size; George W. Bush did something similar in 2003, speaking blandly and equivocally. For the last two years Trump has delivered short remarks via satellite.

The significance of his decision to attend this year's rally cannot be overstated. Every Republican president since Reagan has claimed to share the goals of the pro-life movement, but somehow none could find the time to address what has become the focal point of anti-abortion activism in our nation's capital. It could be argued that Trump was simply paying lip service to opponents of state-sponsored infanticide, but that is still more than can be said for his predecessors.

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.