March for Life: 5 interesting facts about the annual pro-life gathering

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Wednesday, January 17, 2024

Litigation controversies

Nicholas Sandmann (L), a junior at Covington Catholic High School in Kentucky, smiles at Nathan Phillips (R), an Omaha elder and former United States Marine as he played a ceremonial drum on Friday January 18, 2019, during a clash between the March for Life and the Indigenous People's rally. in Washington, D.C. | Screen shot: Instagram

As an annual event centered on a polarizing hot button issue, it might come as no surprise that the occasional high-profile lawsuit has stemmed from incidents loosely tied to the March for Life.

At the 2019 March for Life, Nicholas Sandmann, a Catholic high school student from Kentucky, was confronted by Nathan Phillips, an Omaha elder and Vietnam War veteran as an Indigenous People's rally was taking place nearby.

Corporate media outlets, including The Washington Post and CNN, portrayed Sandmann as the instigator of the confrontation, with several people threatening the student and his family with violence as a result.

However, Sandmann would later by shown to have not started the confrontation, with the student filing defamation suits against news outlets, which produced mixed results.

Last year, the National Archives and Records Administration reached a settlement with March for Life attendees when a group of attendees were ordered to remove pro-life clothing items or leave the National Archives.

The National Archives, NARA and the Archivist of the United States eventually agreed to pay the plaintiffs $10,000 to “settle every claim of any kind relating to this civil action” and to not target the activists again.