Dozens of students from Colorado Christian University wore navy “Pro-Life U” T-shirts and carried signs saying “Life Is Precious” and “Let Their Hearts Beat” during the March for Life in Washington on Friday.
Sophomore Stephanie Heil, 18, decided her sign would read, “Be a Voice for the Voiceless.”
“I wanted to carry that in honor of my biological sibling lost to abortion,” said Heil, who is adopted and a former foster child. She became involved in the pro-life cause after learning her birth mother had gotten an abortion.
The march is the country’s largest pro-life rally—organizers expected up to 150,000 people—and the third annual event held since Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court in 2022. The speaker lineup included Vice President JD Vance, Florida governor Ron DeSantis, and Lila Rose, founder and president of the pro-life advocacy group Live Action.
Three dozen Colorado Christian students woke up before dawn Thursday to take a bus from campus to the Denver airport to fly to DC for the march. As young pro-life activists, they know they are an anomaly among fellow Gen Z adults. That’s why they say it’s so special to be in a setting with thousands of fellow young people who share their convictions around abortion.
“It’s very encouraging to be around people who agree with the same things as you and who will spur you on and help you in the way you think and help you in understanding,” said Jasmine Obrecht, a 21-year-old senior and copresident of the pro-life club.
Fellow Christian colleges, secular schools, and Students for Life chapters also sent groups to DC for the event. This year’s lineup also included a student speaker, Hannah Lape, who leads the Voice for Life chapter at Wheaton College, which sent around 75 students to the march.
“I’ve been pro-life my whole life and loved the Lord my whole life,” Lape told Students for Life. After interning with Susan B. Anthony pro-life America, “I knew that fighting for the moral rights of preborn children in policy was a true calling for me.”
Three-quarters of Americans under 30 believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases. Even among evangelicals, young people are shifting pro-choice; self-identified white evangelicals under 35 are twice as likely to support abortion as a choice (38%) than those over 65 (16%).
“I feel like it’s a trigger word in our generation,” Heil said. “If you say you’re pro-life, you’re immediately a woman hater.”
Most of the group was young women, but one of the male students, Noah Hakalmazian, a 19-year-old from Colorado Springs, said that he had grown up advocating for pro-life causes. He and his family would stand outside Planned Parenthood clinics and plead with people to change their minds.
“I think there is a really bad pretense right now about how men shouldn’t have a say in any of this kind of stuff because it’s women’s bodies that we’re talking about,” he said. “Regardless of gender, regardless of what you may believe, I think that human lives are the ultimate cost that is being paid right now. And I don’t think there is any more important topic than saving human lives.”
Fellow students were hopeful about pro-life policies, including defunding Planned Parenthood and enacting a federal abortion ban, though Trump has previously said he would veto such a ban if he was elected. On Thursday, Trump pardoned nearly two dozen activists who had previously been convicted for blocking abortion clinic entrances. He has called himself the “most pro-life president.”
Students said it was hard to discuss their pro-life views with peers who aren’t Christian.
“I want to be that person who goes out and speaks my convictions so someone else can stand up and speak theirs,” said Obrecht. She said bringing up her position on abortion can end the conversation, but she has learned to listen to people’s stories and try to empathize before making arguments.
She wants to continue to advocate and speak out around abortion so that others can do the same.
“I like to march for the voiceless, as well as for people my age to gain confidence in speaking up about this issue,” Obrecht said. “One day people will wonder why we had such a blind spot to this issue.”
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