Over 50 members of a Georgetown University anti-abortion rights student group led the national March for Life, the largest annually held anti-abortion mobilization in the United States, on Jan. 23.

Georgetown University Right to Life (RTL), the university’s officially recognized anti-abortion student advocacy group, announced in October 2025 that it would lead the rally and hold its official banner, an opportunity often given to student groups at Catholic universities. The march’s 2026 theme was “Life is a Gift,” drawing attention to organizers’ belief in life at conception and the immorality of abortions. 

Elizabeth Oliver (CAS ’26), the RTL president, said she appreciates the opportunity for RTL to lead the march.

“The high points start at the beginning — the fact that Georgetown was invited to lead the National March for Life, which entails holding the official March for Life banner,” Oliver told The Hoya. “For me, I had the honor of speaking on stage today, which was an incredible experience to represent Georgetown and specifically our Right to Life club.”

The March for Life — which has occurred annually since 1974 and originated in response to Roe v. Wade, the U.S. Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion nationwide — aims to change the political culture surrounding abortion, according to organizers.

The rally featured several prominent political figures, including Vice President J.D. Vance, Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Mike Johnson (R-La.) and President Donald Trump, who delivered a pre-recorded statement.

Vance, who spoke at the rally, said the Trump administration wants to protect life and for American families to have children.

“Our vision is simple: We want life to thrive in the United States of America,” Vance said at the rally. “We want Americans — every American from all walks of life — to have happy, healthy children. We want them to raise those kids with confidence that their kids are going to do well and will grow up in safety and prosperity.”

Bella Kondrat (SON ’27), a RTL member who attended the march, said the March for Life unites viewpoints across the anti-abortion movement under the common goal of ending abortions.

“The march is so important because it brings together the diversity of the pro-life movement,” Kondrat told The Hoya. “There are people here who disagree with each other on a lot, but what we’re united on is that abortion is one of the greatest abuses of human rights happening in our generation.”

Tony Lauinger (CAS ’67), a Georgetown graduate who joined RTL at the march and currently serves as the national organization’s vice president, said he is glad a group of Georgetown students are taking a leading stance against abortion.

“I think it’s a great honor for Georgetown,” Lauinger told The Hoya. “It’s very heartening for me, as a long-ago alum, that the young Georgetown students of today are strongly pro-life and are stepping out in a leadership role defending the unborn child.”

Avery Hedden (SFS ’27), a RTL member who attended the march, said she thinks that as a Catholic university, Georgetown has a responsibility to represent anti-abortion values.

“I believe that all human life has dignity,” Hedden told The Hoya. “Georgetown is the nation’s oldest Catholic institution, and representing Catholic values is super important and needs great honor.”

The day after the march, Georgetown hosted the annual Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life. Named after Catholic cardinal and anti-abortion advocate John O’Connor (GRD ’70), the conference was founded by Georgetown students in 2000 and is the largest student-run anti-abortion conference in the United States.

Jim Hagan, a former Georgetown campus minister who attended the march with RTL, said the Catholic Church should continue to oppose abortion.

“I think that what it means to be human is the issue for the church and for our culture today,” Hagan told The Hoya. “We need to honor what it means to be made in the image of God, and that starts at the conception of life.”

Though Georgetown is a Jesuit institution, it has had a complicated history with the debate over abortion rights. In 1991, the university officially recognized an abortion-rights student group but removed its status the following year. Currently, Georgetown’s School of Medicine does not teach pre-clinical students specific miscarriage, birth control and abortion content recommended by the Association of Professors of Gynecology and Obstetrics, and the university hospital does not provide elective abortions.

Many Georgetown students have supported abortion rights for decades, including through H*yas for Choice, an unaffiliated abortion- and reproductive-rights student advocacy group.

Oliver said she marched for Georgetown’s Jesuit heritage, including the value of “cura personalis,” or caring for the whole person.

“I marched today for the lives of all the unborn babies who have been lost to abortion,” Oliver said. “I march for Georgetown and its Catholic identity, for ‘cura personalis’ begins in the womb. Georgetown is a pro-life university. Georgetown is a Catholic university. The Catholic Church upholds the dignity of every human life from conception to natural death, and that is a message that I was proud to champion today.”

Kondrat said the march advocates for the rights of all people.

“Our number-one goal is the legal protection of unborn children,” Kondrat said. “Our rights stem from that, and it doesn’t end at birth, obviously. When we’re here, we’re fighting for the dignity of all people and ending the dehumanization of any person.”