"Father, as we repent, help us to cut through the lies of this age and cling to the truth of your goodness seen through the creation of the family," David Walls prayed at the start of the March for Life event.
Walls, who heads the Family Foundation, was among the first to speak to the gathering crowd on the steps of the Capitol — many donning matching red and white scarves and carrying signs reading "Make Abortion Unthinkable" and "Defund Planned Parenthood."
Scenes from today’s #RightToLife really at the Capitol. More than 150 people have gathered so far. More @ 4 on 91.3 and https://t.co/Yqqv6aRVfm. #KYGA25 pic.twitter.com/aAl9ci68dI
— WUKY (@wuky) February 26, 2025
As for his focus, Walls cited a pair of bills — one reviving a failed effort to adopt specific classroom curricula that include human growth and development, often called the Baby Olivia Act, and another making it a crime to "intentionally" mail abortion-inducing drugs to Kentuckians.
Demonstrator Beverly Miller said, while the crowd appeared smaller than in previous years, she thinks the winds are at their backs culturally.
"The momentum is all in the right direction," she said. "It's standing up for righteousness."
But the largest and most prominent signs on display were in support of a bill that has split anti-abortion activists, House Bill 523, which would allow for the prosecution of women who obtain abortions.
"Many pro-lifers do not support the same bill that we do. So we're trying to persuade people," Thomas Arrow Heintzelman said. He was one of the attendees identifying himself as a "abolitionist." As he handed out cards explaining HB 523, he maintained the bill comes from a place of love, not condemnation.
"The reason being not so that we could just go after people, but so that we could prevent it from happening," he said.
But others holding similar signs found themselves at odds with event organizers, who did not want the signs appearing beside the stage.
HB 523 has not been heard in committee.