The following are excerpts of remarks delivered by Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ), Co-Chair of the Congressional Pro-Life Caucus, at the 2026 March for Life:

             I met my dear wife, Marie, more than fifty years ago in the pro-life movement—and today, like you, we are more committed, hope-filled, determined and—let me add—more impatient than ever to see “life celebrated as a gift from God.”

             With indomitable faith, compassion, and tenacity, we must recommit to protecting the weakest and most vulnerable.

             Above all, we must pray, fast, and work—claiming God’s promises as in 2 Chronicles 7:14: “If my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and heal their land.”

             More than 2,700 pregnancy resource centers throughout the United States are actively working to help women choose life—each and every one of them an oasis of love, compassion, empathy, respect, and care for mothers and their precious children.

             Yet, some state governments and lawmakers, including my state of New Jersey, seek to shut down pregnancy care centers or violate fundamental conscience rights by compelling complicity in abortion.

             The Knights of Columbus Marist poll released this week, however, found that 84% of all Americans— including 75% of Democrats—support pregnancy resource centers.

             This week, the House passed HR 6945, the Supporting Pregnant and Parenting Women and Families Act, introduced by Congresswoman Michelle Fischbach to ensure that pregnancy resource centers remain eligible for vital federal funding under Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

             The purveyors of death—and their enablers in politics, the media, and academia— aggressively foster a culture of death, and employ an endless array of deceitful tactics designed to trivialize and mask the cruel and ugly reality of abortion, presenting the violence of abortion as a so-called “right.”

             The abortion pill—mifepristone—is baby poison that kills the unborn child by starving the innocent baby to death. 

             The abortion pill is extremely dangerous for women.

             On April 28, 2025, the Ethics and Public Policy Center (EPPC) released an historic report entitled, “The Abortion Pill Harms Women: Insurance Data Reveals One in Ten Patients Experiences a Serious Adverse Event.” This report found that more than one out of ten (10.93%) women who take the chemical abortion drug mifepristone experience sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging, or another serious adverse event within 45 days.

             With respect, I appeal to the media to investigate the coverup of the harmful effects on women from the abortion pill, which dates back to the Clinton Administration.

             President Trump’s new Protecting Life in Foreign Assistance, also known as the Mexico City Policy, is the best and most comprehensive iteration of that policy, begun by Ronald Reagan in 1984.  

             It adds pro-life conditions to $30 billion of foreign aid to serve our national interest, as well as humanitarian and health priorities, instead of bankrolling UN entities and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that promote and perform abortion violence

             President Trump’s new policy puts a tourniquet on “Abortion President” Joe Biden’s hijacking of global foreign assistance to promote abortion-on-demand around the world, including through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

             A new national Marist poll released yesterday found that a huge majority of Americans—69 %—oppose using tax dollars to support abortion in other countries.

             Each day, despite setbacks—thanks to your efforts and prayers—many unborn children and their mothers have been, are being, and will be protected.

             We know that the injustice of abortion need not be forever.

             Life is such an amazing gift. There are no throwaways.

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