5 Things You Should Know About the March for Life

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Friday, January 27, 2017

3. A Roman Catholic Presence

March for Life, Jan. 22, 2014, Washington, D.C. | (Photo: The Christian Post/Napp Nazworth)

The March for Life has long been noted for having a strong Catholic presence, with parochial schools, nuns, priests, and the Knights of Columbus often coming in large numbers.

This is connected to the fact that the American pro-life movement was initially disproportionately Catholic in its numbers.

Focus on the Family President Jim Daly explained in a press call in January 2016 that Catholics have often been more active in the pro-life cause than evangelical Protestants.

"The Catholic community has been the ones to go to the March for Life and participate on the mall, listen to the speakers, to galvanize annually the support for life," said Daly.

"Evangelicals have read about it in the newspaper and heard about it in the news, but I don't think that we have shown that kind of commitment to come together in a location where people can add their voice to the other voices talking about the life movement."

Evangelical leaders have sought to increase evangelical participation through Evangelicals for Life, a conference held in conjunction with the March for Life co-hosted by Focus on the Family and the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.