WASHINGTON (RNS) — Gathering for the annual March for Life on the National Mall on Friday (Jan. 23), the anti-abortion demonstrators from every corner of the country listened patiently as the event’s organizers praised Vice President JD Vance, who addressed the march, and the Trump administration in general. But the tensions that have bubbled up in recent days over President Trump’s commitment to fighting abortion were not difficult to discern in the crowd.
“@therealdonaldtrump We are not ‘flexible.’ Abortion is Murder!” read one sign, referring to Trump’s recent comments that House Republicans should be flexible on the Hyde Amendment, a policy that bans federal funds being spent to provide abortions.
Holding the sign was Tyler Skywalker, a member of St. Paul’s Presbyterian Church, a Presbyterian Church in America congregation in Orlando, Florida. His wife, Noelle, said their faith motivated them to attend the march. “We’re taught in Scripture that every human is made in the image of God. That gives us intrinsic value. Murdering of that life is wrong,” she said.
Trump’s comments about Hyde have brought the greatest backlash on op-ed pages, but there is also a feeling in the anti-abortion movement that the administration has taken insufficient action on issues that have become frontline concerns since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022, primarily restricting access to mifepristone, a drug largely used for abortions. But those who believe the post-Roe fight is a spiritual battle fo …