This past weekend marked the first National Celebrate Life Day in commemoration of the Dobbs v. Jackson Supreme Court decision which reversed Roe v. Wade — and the significance of the occasion was emphasized by the rally taking place on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. If you didn’t make it out to celebrate in Washington D.C. with the around 5,000 participants from start to finish, you did miss out…but you can still get a taste of the experience. Watch the event recording below (which includes amazing speakers such as Vice President Mike Pence and Michael Knowles of the Daily Wire) and read Students for Life of America President Kristan Hawkins’ speech, as well.  

And next year, make sure you join us in our nation’s Capital!  

Kristan Hawkins 2023 National Celebrate Life Day Rally Speech  

One year ago today, I stood next to the steps of the Supreme Court to read before the world for the first time, “The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion. Roe and Casey are overruled.”   

For many, that moment may have seemed like the culmination of my life’s work and our mission at Students for Life and our 1,400 campus chapters, as well as the work of so many of our heroes who ensured the day came to pass. Heroes like the first black woman to graduate Harvard medical school, Dr. Mildred Jefferson; a homemaker, Phyllis Schlafly; a President, Ronald Reagan; activists Joe Schiedler and Nellie Grey; and a former abortionist, Dr. Bernard Nathanson. 

But for us, those of us all born under the threat of a legal abortion, the Pro-Life Generation — it wasn’t the twilight of our mission, but a dawn… a new dawn for our nation. 

Life is indeed winning in America as 25 states have laws on the books that now protect preborn children when they begin to feel pain at 12.5 weeks, when their heartbeat can be heard, or at the moment their life began at conception.  

However, in all honesty, we must acknowledge that we are living within the Divided States of America, a nation of free-to-be-born states and others — free-to-kill.  

A nation where a person’s location determines if they will survive the abortion gauntlet, as we did. A nation of walking wounded, women and men suffering from past abortion decisions in silence as the abortion industry gaslights them. A nation where far too many young mothers and fathers in crisis still don’t know where to turn for help that doesn’t prescribe paying an abortion vendor to stop the beating heart of their child. A nation that has seen our government, agencies like the FDA and DOJ that were designed to help all Americans, set loose upon us — ending safety regulations on Chemical Abortion Pills that lead to injury, infertility, death for women, empowering abusers, and poisoning our environment while unabashedly targeting those who attend certain religious services and closing their eyes to the hate crimes committed against pregnancy centers and churches. 

These Divided States will not stand. For I believe Mr. Lincoln was right — “We will become all one thing, or all the other.” 

And that one thing must be an America where every human being is recognized as the unrepeatable person that they are, with equal rights and equal protection under the 14^th Amendment guaranteed…not because of what state their mother may reside in, or if they are perceived as convenient, or the circumstances of their conception.  

We’ve gathered here today, young and old, rich and poor, white, brown, black, Christian, Jewish, non-religious, because we seek a United States of America, a United States where every child, every little boy and girl, is welcomed in life by law and our acts of service. 

We are here for them. 

For 49 years, we suffered under the tyranny of Roe…we did as Mr. King instructed; we refused to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. 

And we do so now. 

In this new dawn, we eagerly await the high noon where the sun will shine over every town and state throughout our land. 

As we wait for the sun to rise, we do as the Book of Matthew commanded. We, the Pro-Life Generation, will be bringing our light — holding candles — to shine throughout our land. 

And we will shine our lights on the darkness of the abortion industry – on the discriminatory violence that Planned Parenthood and other abortionists practice 2,000 times each day. 

We will shine our lights on campuses, online, in churches, and even door to door, on the social safety net our movement has supported and sustained for decades in America with nearly 3,000 pregnancy help centers and maternity homes for women in crisis that can be found at StandingWithYou.org. We will shine our lights in the halls of our state capitals, demanding laws that save lives, protect children, and aid mothers in crisis. 

And today, we are shining our lights right here in Washington, D.C., ensuring that those who seek the privilege to serve here, at the Capitol of a nation founded on the principles that all have the fundamental rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness, have the courage to resist fake promises and false compromises. 

For we demand protection at conception; human rights when human life begins. 

And we will not go weary. We will not rest until high noon comes and even then, we will work to ensure the sun never sets on human rights for all human persons. 

Mr. Lincoln reminded us that, “We shall not fail – if we stand firm. That Wise counsels may accelerate or mistakes delay it, but sooner or later the victory is sure to come.” 

High noon — equal rights for all, born and preborn — is coming to America, and the sun will shine on every mountain top and in every valley. And every child, at last, will be free to born. 

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