“In my second term, we will again stand proudly for families and for life,” Trump said in an address that aired hours ahead of schedule. “We will protect the historic gains we have made and stop the radical Democrat push for a federal right to unlimited abortion on demand.”

Vice President JD Vance, who attended in person, then delivered remarks to the crowd in Washington, his first since Inauguration Day at the start of the week.

While Trump has taken a more nuanced stance toward abortion policy since Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization threw the issue back to the states in 2022, he pledged in his virtual address to continue backing families and the anti-abortion cause more generally.

“Thanks to your tireless work and devotion across five decades, that historic wrong was set right three years ago,” Trump said, referring to Roe v. Wade. “I was so proud to be a participant. Six courageous justices of the Supreme Court of the United States returned the issue to the state legislatures and to the people, where it belongs.”

He added that in a second term, “We will again stand proudly for families and for life,” but stopped short of calling for federal action on that front.

Vance carried the torch for the Trump administration in person this year, as Trump spent Friday touring disaster sites in North Carolina and California. The father of three young children, he spoke not only about government policy but what he described as the need for cultural change.

“We failed a generation, not only by permitting a culture of abortion on demand but also by neglecting to help young parents achieve the ingredients they need to lead a happy and meaningful life,” Vance said. “A culture of radical individualism took root, one where the responsibilities and joys of family life were seen as obstacles to overcome, not as personal fulfillment or personal blessings.”

He also talked about “the obligation that one generation has to another” and said the issue is about more than simply opposing abortion.

“Let me say very simply, I want more babies in the United States of America,” Vance said. “I want more happy children in our country. And I want beautiful, young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them.”

The presence of Vance was significant. Prior to the first Trump administration, no vice president had ever attended the March for Life. Trump, for his part, was the first sitting president to appear in person, delivering remarks in Washington in 2020.

Other notable speakers Friday included House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL).

The March for Life is held in late January each year to mark the anniversary of the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision, which was handed down on Jan. 22, 1973, and has continued even though the case is no longer the law of the land.

Like Trump, Vance has sought to thread a needle on the topic of abortion. He said last year that the Republican Party had lost the trust of voters over abortion policy, even while maintaining that the GOP needs to remain the “pro-family party.” Vance has expressed support for a 15-week federal abortion ban with exceptions, though he also maintains that individual states should be left to craft their own policies.

“I think that we want to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word,” Vance said at last October’s vice presidential debate. “We want to promote more people choosing life. But I think that there has to be a balance here. A balance between states that are making their own abortion policies.”

On Friday, Vance described Trump as “the most pro-family, most pro-life American president of our lifetimes.”

“You make it possible for us to stand here and say that America is fundamentally a pro-baby, a pro-life, and a pro-family country,” Vance told the crowd.