01/24/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 01/24/2025 15:03
WASHINGTON - Today, Speaker Johnson participated in the 52nd annual March for Life on the National Mall. Speaker Johnson was joined by more than 100,000 attendees, Vice President JD Vance, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and dozens of other speakers who proudly stood for the sanctity of every human life.
"My friends, House and Senate Republicans are committed to protecting innocent life. We will do it," Speaker Johnson said. "As we near the 250th anniversary of our great nation, we remember that at the heart of our grand experiment in self-governance is the recognition of the right to life."
Watch Speaker Johnson's full remarks here
Below are Speaker Johnson's remarks as delivered:
Good afternoon. We're so glad that you've joined us here in Washington, DC. Thank you for making the trip. It really is a great encouragement to all of us to see all of you, so many pro-life Americans, here to stand and march for the sanctity of human life.
I stand here with these colleagues of mine, these leaders for life, and it means so much to us to see all of you. For 52 years, this event has united millions of pro-life Americans just like us for the common purpose that we believe that every child has the right life.
For two decades, before I was elected to Congress, I served as a constitutional law attorney, and I litigated cases to defend our fundamental freedoms like religious liberty and the sanctity of human life, and now in this role that I have as Speaker of the House, I'm working to defend those freedoms in a different way.
And the good news is there are many leaders here in Congress, just like the ones standing behind us here, who are committed to doing that same thing.
And of course, my friends, it is a new golden age in America, now we have President
Donald J. Trump back in the White House. We are entering a new era, and with Vice President JD Vance, they have already this new White House that has already shown its resolve.
In one of his first official acts, President Trump just freed and pardoned nearly two dozen wrongfully imprisoned pro-life activists. And I don't know if you saw his executive order on gender, but it defines life as beginning at conception, rather than birth.
And in Congress, just yesterday, the House passed the Born Alive Survivors Protection Act. It's a matter of basic humanity to ensure that a child who survives an abortion attempt should be cared for as he or she is lying on the table gasping for breath. But I am so sad to tell you that only one House Democrat joined us in voting for that bill. It's incredible, really, but it demonstrates just how important events like this today are.
My friends, House and Senate Republicans are committed to protecting innocent life. We will do it. As we near the 250th anniversary of our great nation, we remember that at the heart of our grand experiment in self-governance is the recognition of the right to life.
As Leader Thune just said, America is premised on the self-evident truth that every single person is made in the image of our creator, God, and thus every single person has inestimable dignity and value.
And your value is not related in any way to the color of your skin or what zip code you live in or what you do for a living, your value is inherent - that is given to you by God.
What we need today is a new generation of leaders and activists like William Wilberforce and Frederick Douglass, men and women who will courageously use their voices to defend others. You, my friends, are part of that generation, and together, we are rebuilding a culture of life, and it begins now by sharing your time and influence, by volunteering to assist pregnancy resource centers, all the very practical ways that we can assist, using our voices, using our influence. It's going to make a difference.
I'll close with this. I was born in January 1972. It was almost exactly one year before Roe v. Wade became the law of the land. I was the product of an unplanned teen pregnancy, and 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 they chose to embrace life and to have me, the first of their four children.
It's a simple fact, a very simple fact, that had they not done that, I would not be here. And 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.
I often wonder when we as a nation will face that reality and turn our hearts back to the self-evident truths that we boldly proclaimed in our nation's birth certificate in 1776, as was said earlier, that all people are created equal and all people are endowed by our creator with the right to life.
Let's keep working to ensure that more eyes are open, that more people will embrace those timeless truths and that all children will be allowed the incomparable gift of being born. Thank you for being a part of this movement and this noble cause. God bless this march and may God bless the United States of America. Thank you.
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