US President Donald Trump arrives to speak at the 47th annual "March for Life" in Washington, DC, on January 24, 2020. - Trump is the first US president to address in person the country's biggest annual gathering of pro-life campaigners. (Photo: NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty Images)

(CNSNews.com) -- At the 47th annual March for Life, attended by an incumbent president for the first time, March leader Jeanne F. Mancini stressed that abortion does not free or empower women but is “profoundly anti-woman.”

“Ending the life of an innocent human being is promoted as essential to women’s freedom, empowerment, and progress,” said Mancini, before the march began. “We know this message about women and abortion is both deceptive and hurtful.”

“Abortion is profoundly anti-woman,” she said. “Three-quarters of abortion victims are women: half the babies and all the mothers."

“The early suffragist, those courageous early female leaders who recognized both the inherent dignity of woman and the unborn. These great women knew that creatures, mother and baby, were not at odds with each other,” she said.

In his remarks, President Donald Trump said, “To all the women here today, your devotion and your leadership uplifts the nation and we thank you for that.”





“Every life brings love into this world,” said Trump. “Every child brings joy to a family. Every person is worth protecting … and every human life, born and unborn, is made in the holy image of Almighty God.”

Mancini played a video entitled "Life Empowers," featuring spoken word artist Rebecca Ocean. She said,

“In 1920 they got the vote

But it was just the beginning.

They called abortion, and I quote

“The ultimate exploitation of women.”

They not only recognized the rights

Of our very smallest children

They knew that abortion at its core

Also harmed us as women.”

Abortion “affects everyone,” Franciscan University student activist Kristina Beer told CNSNews.com at the march. “It’s a human rights issue and in no way is legalizing abortion giving women more power."

According to the National right to Life Committee, based on data from the Guttmacher Institute and the CDC, there have been more than 61 million abortions in the United States since 1973, when abortion was made legal nationwide in the Roe v. Wade decision.





Every year, America’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, receives hundreds of millions of dollars in government reimbursements and grants.

For the year ending June 30, 2019, Planned Parenthood offices received $616.8 million in government health services reimbursements and grants.