Lots of Activities Around March for Life 2026

Posted on January 29, 2026 By Rachel MacNair

Lauren Handy

Day of Horror and Hope: Unity Brunch at the Capitol 

“we are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny.”

–Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

This quote resonated deeply within me as I looked out across the room. After 8 months of coalition-building, the Day of Horror and Hope Planning Committee saw the fruits of this work. We came together inside the United States Capitol to kick off our Day of Action on the twin anniversaries of Roe vs Wade and the U.N. Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons officially going into effect. A diverse group of more than forty people came together to hold the grief of the moment we are in while also grounding ourselves in hope.

With the cascading images of live-streamed genocide, kidnappings happening in our neighborhoods, and our cities under occupation, the room was heavy with helplessness. But as each speaker shared their vision for a more just world, a rebellious hope started to grow. Looking around that room, I truly felt the mission of the Horror and Hope Planning Committee come to life. We were weaving a garment of justice that included us all. The challenges we are facing are not isolated problems; they are interconnected in ways that shape our shared future.

The speakers included Brian Lohmann from the Vulnerable People Project, Destiny Herndon-de la Rosa from New Wave Feminists, Bernadette Patel from Feminists Choosing Life of New York, Mary Rider of the Father Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House and Consistent Life Network, and Constance Becker, an Afro-Indigenous pro-life speaker and activist.

As everyone left the brunch, the excitement and renewed energy overshadowed all despair. This gave us momentum through the rest of the weekend and will keep us moving forward after retuning home.

Vigil at White House

In the afternoon, a large group of us gathered outside the White House to hold a vigil concluding the Day of Action. Through music, poetry, testimonies, and more, we each shared a piece of ourselves. It was beautiful to see people of all ages coming together with our signs and banners to hold space for the most vulnerable among us.

There was also an event in Chicago

March for Life 

The following day, friends and supporters of the Horror & Hope Planning Committee joined a large group of other “alt” pro-life groups to march together to the Supreme Court ahead of the National March for Life. Spirits were high as we walked together, joining arms in this fight for justice.

I created a sign for the March for Life that stated, “Justice for the Five is justice for Congo, Palestine, Sudan.”  What is happening in Congo, Sudan, and Palestine, and in the womb, is all interconnected. Hyper-individualism driven by consumerism and supremacist ideologies is going after the most vulnerable in our societies. We have seen time and time again how children are the collateral damage in the colonial extraction of resources.

Seeing children being exploited in the mines in Congo, dying of starvation in Sudan, blown to pieces in Palestine harkens intimately to my experience of handling the remains of the 115 murdered children. Broken bodies. Shattered dreams.

But what do we do to combat this? How do we find hope again? I believe in the words of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African anti-apartheid leader, “The only way we can ever be human is together. The only way we can be free is together.”

Together we are bound together in a single garment of destiny. Together we will advance justice for all.

Bill Samuel

Thursday and Friday activities sort-of flowed together. The four events I attended – Unity Brunch, Vigil, Democrats for Life of American (DFLA) Breakfast, and alt-life rally and march – had a lot of common participants. They were all multi-issue (DFLA not quite as much, but folks did talk about more than the legislative initiative they’re currently promoting). They were quite energizing. Most everyone got to reconnect with some people and make some new connections.

A distinct difference with the alt-pro-life gathering from prior years is that it did its own march to the Supreme Court rather than being a contingent in the main March. We got to the Supreme Court long before the main March, and there were “pro-choice” demonstrators there. One of the things they were trying to do was say that other things were important, but they hadn’t counted on us coming with signs that addressed all the other issues.

It was a contest of chants, but there were no overtly hostile interactions while I was there, which hasn’t always been the case. The inclusion of the Vulnerable People’s Project in some events was valuable, because they view themselves as conservative ideologically which none of the others do, yet they are clearly consistent life ethic proponents.

 

Christy Yao Pelliccioni

The brunch on Thursday was very nice. Lauren did a great job of having it be truly a “Unity” brunch. Many different people who focus on many different issues were there, such as Brian Lohmann from the Vulnerable People’s Project, Destiny Herdon-de la Rosa from New Wave Feminists, and Kristen Day from Democrats for Life. I got a chance to talk to Kristen Day, and figure out what I was going to say at the breakfast on Friday.

The Democrats for Life (DFLA) breakfast was a lot different than it has been in the past. It was much more like a press conference and less like the networking event it’s been before. Luckily my sister came with me and was able to be with the kids.

Saturday at the Cardinal O’Connor Conference went very well! We gave away some cards. I gave a few Problems with Planned Parenthood books (see bottom of page) to people from other organizations.

Richard Stith reported his friends handed out cards, as planned, to the lit table staffers at the National Pro-life Summit, and they were well received.  (Cards were about our Peace and Life Referendums website, Grassroots Defunding – Finding Alternatives to Planned Parenthood, and Problems at Planned Parenthood).

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