Former Vice President Mike Pence urged young people gathered Saturday for the Students for Life of America (SFLA) National Pro-Life Summit to continue reaching out to women facing unexpected pregnancy.
Pence also told those in the pro-life movement to stand for life, to support pro-life candidates, and pray for America.
Continuing to support women in unplanned pregnancy would change hearts, he said, “Because in the course of this movement, we've loved them both.”
The SFLA Summit takes place the day following the annual March for Life in Washington D.C., offering pro-life speakers, education, and exhibitors, with a focus on forming young people for pro-life advocacy.
Pence was warmly received by the young pro-life crowd and recalled pro-life achievements of the last administration to applause and cheers.
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Pence also issued some calls to action.
“Now, more than ever I say to this pro-life generation, we need new conservative majorities in the House and the Senate,” he said, and that the time has come for the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Both the national March for Life and the SFLA Summit had the undercurrent of hope for Roe to end when the Supreme Court hands down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health, expected in June.
“I want to encourage each and every one of you with the word that I know in my heart, that the tide has turned for the pro-life movement,” Pence said. “The pro-life movement has never been stronger. And thanks to all of you, life is winning in America. And I believe a majority of the highest court in the land is on our side as well.”
Pence discussed the tragedy of abortion in America since the 1973 Supreme Court Roe decision legalizing abortion throughout pregnancy, drawing a contrast between abortion supporters and the pro-life community in his remarks.
“The left believes that children are a burden,” the former vice president stated. “We know that children are gift from God. Now the left believes that the institution of family is outdated and unnecessary. We know that family is the bedrock of our civilization.”
“The question before the American people is no less than this,” Pence said. “What kind of nation do we want? Do we want to be a nation that tolerates abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy?”
“Or a nation that comes alongside women in crisis pregnancy, a nation that stands up for the weak and fights for the defenseless,” he continued, “A nation that says proudly without apology, that every life matters and every child deserves a chance. Fellow Americans, that is who we are.”
He told the pro-life gathering that a new era in American history was at hand.
“An era in which all human life is once again, cherished and respected,” Pence said, “an era in which the great moral questions of our time are decided by the people, through their chosen representatives.”
“We may well be on the verge of an era when the Supreme court sends Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history,” he said.
The heartbreaking consequences of the Roe decision cannot be overstated, Pence said, with more than 62 million unborn children in the United States aborted since 1973.
“In other words,” Pence stated, “nearly 20% of the U.S population is gone.”
Roe v. Wade has inflicted tragedy, he continued, not only on the nation, but on humanity, with unborn children segregated into a cast of second-class citizens, devoid of the most basic human rights.
The unborn have lived outside of protection in the world, said Pence, at the mercy of a culture that devalues them, and an abortion industry that profits from their suffering. Abortion is being used as a tool of eugenics, he added, for the elimination of children of the wrong sex or race, or those suffering from disability.
“Today,” Pence said, “more than two thirds of all babies with Down syndrome in the United States are killed in the womb. And we must end this injustice.”
Pointing out that Planned Parenthood has continued its founder Margaret Sanger's legacy, strategically locating 79% of its abortion centers in Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, Pence noted the disparity in the abortion rate between these groups and the overall population.
Pence said, “For liberty and justice for all, we must end abortion in America.”
The previous safe, legal, and rare abortion slogan is no more, he said.
“No longer,” said Pence. “Many on the left now believe abortion is a moral good.”
The pro-life gathering and the March for Life one day prior were declarations that “Roe must go.” he said.
There is hope that the days of Roe v. Wade are coming to an end, he said, referencing the much-anticipated Dobbs decision. Legal scholars know that the Roe decision was manufactured out to achieve a predetermined political and ideological goal, Pence told the crowd.
“Even the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader once wrote that the Supreme court's decision in Roe v. Wade was, quote, ‘heavy handed judicial intervention that was difficult to justify,’” said Pence, “but now our Supreme court has a chance to write that historic wrong.”
Citing a just-released SFLA poll showing that eight in 10 young Americans want to vote on abortion policy in their states, and that 60% of young Americans oppose Roe v. Wade because it allows abortion up to the moment of birth, Pence said, “This pro-life generation knows that the fight for life is the final fight for freedom.”
When the Supreme court overturns Roe v. Wade, it won't come a surprise to anyone, Pence said, “It'll be the culmination of a 50-year journey, whose course and destination had been set by the moral compass of the will of the American people.”
Pence told Summit attendees the next battlefield for life will emerge with Roe’s end, and they must lead a fight for life in every state across the country.
These are serious times with a real prospect of a post-Roe America before us, he said, urging that pro-life advocates prepare their minds for action.
Keep reaching out “with care and love to women facing crisis pregnancies,” Pence said, and in this time of bullying and political correctness, “keep standing for life without apology.”
Third, he urged doing one’s part in the weeks and months ahead to elect and reelect women and men at the federal state and local level “who will stand for the right to life in America.”
“And finally, if you're inclined to bow the head and bend the need from time to time, I encourage you to do that too,” Pence said.
He quoted an inscription on the Jefferson Memorial with the message that the liberties of a nation can only be secure with remembrance that those liberties are the gift of God.
“So, pray for America,” Pence said. “Pray for all the American people. I believe with all my heart that we will send Roe versus Wade to the ash heap of history. And we will give the American people a new beginning for life.”
