After the quiet and muted online March For Life last year, this year’s rally is all the more joyous and celebratory.

First of all, the March For Life 2022 is back in person. Given the insane restrictions within Washington DC at the moment (thankfully, there are no vaccination rules on outdoor rallies, even in DC), this feels like a giant accomplishment. And this year’s theme is a direct poke in the eye of the left: “Equality Begins in the Womb.”

The pandemic is over (even if you refuse to accept it), and the people are back to give voice for those who cannot speak for themselves.

Let’s March for Life! pic.twitter.com/SuEaVZq6pK

— March for Life (@March_for_Life) January 21, 2022

And this year, there is an expectant hum around the March For Life. Could this year be the year? The year that finally, the Supreme Court takes a firm hard look at the precedent that it set in Roe v. Wade and say “wow, this is some amazing bullshit they wrote 49 years ago”?

You know who is afraid of that? The pro-abortion left, who are wringing their hands that this year’s Roe v. Wade anniversary might be its last.

For activists who’ve also been fighting for decades to preserve abortion rights, this moment is “sad; it’s frustrating,” said Michelle Colon, executive director of SHERO Mississippi, a reproductive rights group focused on Black and Brown people.”

“It has me very angry,” she said.”

For many pregnant women in her state who face hurdles like childcare, transportation, and inflexible work schedules, she said it’s already very difficult to get an abortion.”

“It’s tiring because this is something I’ve been working on for 20 years here,” Colon said. “And it just seems like today – now we’re in 2022 – it is harder, more difficult to access abortion healthcare in this country and specifically in this state than it was 25, 30 years ago.”

Mississippi is one of several states that’s down to just one abortion clinic – the one at the center of the Supreme Court case.”

We have discussed the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case before the Supreme Court before on this blog. The oral arguments have already happened, and both sides are now waiting with bated breath for a ruling that could fundamentally change the way the federal government addresses abortion. Both sides seem to agree that the center cannot hold, and that the current status of Roe v. Wade is the closest to being upended than it has been… well, EVER.

There will be no announced decision on the Dobbs case until this summer, but the fact that the case has been heard, and has the potential to overturn Roe, is the reason for a massive groundswell of hope at the March For Life this year, as its president, Jeanne Mancini, writes in an op-ed.

In the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case that the Supreme Court is set to decide this year, the justices will rule on whether the State of Mississippi can enact a law limiting abortions after 15 weeks. A decision upholding the Mississippi law could strike at the heart of Roe v. Wade and allow states greater freedom to protect the unborn. While we don’t know how the justices will rule, anyone who attends the March for Life can see that the pro-life movement has grown steadily in the five decades since Roe was imposed, refuting any notion that it is “settled law” in the hearts and minds of Americans.”

When Roe was first decided, pro-life Americans may have felt defeated, but they quickly rallied. Over the ensuing decades, scientific progress in our understanding of life in the womb has caused the movement to swell in size. That’s one reason the March for Life chose “Equality Begins in the Womb” as the theme for the 49th annual March for Life. The March for Life wants to build a world that values every human life regardless of whether they are yet born.”

The oral arguments for Dobb(s) (sic) gave us hope, even though we likely won’t know the final outcome until the summer. A majority of the justices questioned pro-abortion arguments, and multiple justices implied that they’d be open to overturning Roe. Several justices’ questions revealed they were well aware of recent scientific advances and America’s political divide on abortion. It seems the Court is close to correcting Roe, a decision of judicial activism that has negatively impacted America for close to 50 years.”

The March for Life arrives at the Supreme Court pic.twitter.com/qzuo12JKFP

— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) January 21, 2022

But as Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, warns, a win at the Supreme Court for Dobbs does not mean the fight against abortion and for life will end.

If Mississippi’s law survives its Supreme Court test, authority to determine abortion policy would return to the states. The tragedy of abortion would not disappear overnight. Rather, the battle for life would shift to state legislatures, where the resulting laws will finally mirror the wishes of the people – an opportunity for pro-life leaders to build consensus. “It will be messy and it will be hard, and may play out differently from state to state,” tweeted Mississippi Attorney General Lynn Fitch. “But that is the role the Constitution gave to the people, and the court needs to return to us now.”

The fight may shift, but there is joy. There is hope. And there are new voices at the national level who are standing up to be counted.

I stand with the thousands in attendance at the 49th @March_for_life!

I proudly stand up for the unborn and their mothers. #WhyWeMarch

— Glenn Youngkin (@GlennYoungkin) January 21, 2022

Life is winning. Now we wait and see if the Supreme Court has the moral courage to throw Roe on the ash heap of history where it belongs.

Featured image via Skitterphoto on Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license