By taking more than 1,000 Liberty students to speak up for life, Liberty University and the Standing for Freedom Center enable the next generation to see that there’s an entire movement committed to their cause and that, even in the midst of an unbelieving and hostile culture, their voice matters.
Liberty University will once again stand boldly for the biblical truth that life begins at conception at the 54th National March for Life on January 23, 2026.
The event will be headlined by Vice President J.D. Vance, a fierce pro-life advocate who just announced that he and his wife, Second Lady Usha Vance, are expecting their fourth child.
The Standing for Freedom Center provides more than 1,000 Liberty University students the chance to attend the March for Life each year so they can boldly stand for their Christian faith and pro-life convictions and help bring light to the darkness of an unbelieving world.
Ryan Helfenbein, Liberty’s vice president of communications and public engagement and the executive director of the Standing for Freedom Center, shares why participation in the March for Life remains essential.
“The Standing for Freedom Center exists to equip students to engage the culture on critically important issues of the day with biblical conviction, and there’s no issue more fundamental than the sanctity of human life. We organize and attend the March for Life because it’s where theology meets action, it’s discipleship in the public square. This isn’t just about making a political statement; it’s about forming a generation that understands why protecting the vulnerable is non-negotiable.”
Although Roe v. Wade was justly overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2022 through the Dobbs decision, the continuation of the March for Life underscores that the fight to protect life has entered an even more difficult and critical phase.
Many progressive states have passed constitutional amendments enshrining a right to abortion in their constitutions, for example, and other states are shielding doctors who illegally mail abortion pills into pro-life states, undermining the Full Faith and Credit Clause of the Constitution.
And in Virginia, the General Assembly recently advanced a radical constitutional amendment that would establish access to abortion up until birth as a fundamental right.
The proposal, which will now be voted on by Virginia residents in this fall’s general election, would restrict the state’s ability to regulate abortion up to 27 weeks and will now allow third-trimester abortions in cases “when it is medically indicated to protect the life or health of the pregnant individual or when the fetus is not viable.”
The amendment also reduces the number of doctors required to approve a third trimester abortion from three to one and would “prohibit the Commonwealth from penalizing, prosecuting, or taking adverse action against an individual for exercising the individual’s right to reproductive freedom or for aiding another individual in the exercise of such right.”
This news shows that the fight for life is an ongoing battle, Helfenbein said. In fact, abortion has risen in the wake of the Dobbs decision. The March for Life, he explained, serves as a visible reminder that the pro-life movement is committed to this battle for the long haul. The next generation must see why its morally right and necessary to stand for truth in the public square, even when such convictions are unpopular in the eyes of an unbelieving culture.
The March for Life is also a chance for Liberty students to witness the body of Christ show up in force, standing shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of thousands of others unified around the Biblical truth that life begins at conception.
“For many of our students, this is their first time engaging in public in such an important place as our nation’s capital,” Helfenbein said. “So we march so they can see that they’re not alone, that there’s an entire movement committed to this cause and that their voice matters.”
As other states led by progressive administrations continue to advance pro-abortion measures that reject the sanctity of life, it is increasingly important for those who champion the right to life to stand boldly and courageously. The March for Life is a critical reminder that the fight for life cannot simply rest on the laurels of a handful of court victories. The forces that promote the destructive lies of abortion do not relent.
Instead, this should be a wake up call for Christians and all others who support the cause of life to get involved politically, to be aware of where candidates stand on the issues that matter the most, and to demand that they represent the values of their life-supporting. Anything less than this is not merely a refusal to engage in basic American civics but a failure to exercise kingdom stewardship. That’s because Christians are called to apply biblical convictions faithfully across every sphere of society.
Liberty University’s annual stand for life serves as both a model and a reminder for the Church. Bringing thousands of students to the March for Life is a longstanding tradition that the Standing for Freedom Center is proud to continue. It reinforces the truth that being a Champion for Christ requires more than just talk in the classroom. It requires visible obedience.
“At Liberty, we’re raising up a generation that won’t be silent when culture demands compromise on the value of human life,” Helfenbein said.
As Scripture exhorts, “Let us love not in word or in deed, but in action and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Standing each year for the right to life is not merely symbolic. It is a biblical duty that the Church must carry with courage and conviction.
Liberty students who wish to attend the annual March for Life trip register HERE.
Those who would like to support those attending this year’s March for Life can help by donating $100 to sponsor an LU student’s trip.
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