Finding joy and unity at the 2026 March for Life

On Friday, January 23, more than 30 PHC students carpooled to the nation’s capital, joining tens of thousands of others at the 2026 March for Life.

Samuela (Sam) Lewis, a freshman at PHC, was overwhelmed with what she saw.

“We can feel like we're isolated. Like, ‘Am I the only one that believes this? Am I the only one standing for this?’ But seeing all sorts of people gathering together for this common cause was a really good reminder of the many who are fighting with us,” she said.

Sam has always been pro-life. Her mom and grandmother both worked for pregnancy resource centers, so fighting for life was part of the natural progression for her. In high school, she joined 40 Days for Life and attended one of their prayer protests at age fifteen.

“I had anticipated it being run by adults, then the organizer got up and introduced himself as a junior at a local high school. I was like, ‘Wait a second.’ I looked over at my dad and told him I wanted to do a pro-life rally.”

“Okay,” he said.

Sure enough, that October, Sam held a pro-life rally in her hometown in Colorado. Up to 300 people came.

“It was genuinely one of the coolest experiences of my life. I'll say March for Life was like seeing it on a much larger scale."

Ryan Christensen, a sophomore at PHC, was also surprised at the scale of things. He said, “I'd always heard that among adults my age and younger, the pro-life movement was growing, but to see how many were committed, familiar enough to give voice to the voiceless, and defending the rights of the pregnant mothers, was really cool.”

Freshman Janey Henrikson realized while looking at those around her that “this is a heavy topic, but we're not marching through the streets with downcast faces: we’re marching with joy because we’re bringing hope to a place where there's so much hopelessness.”

Different groups of PHC students became separated during the march. Sam’s group was able to secure a place close enough to the front of the march that they could see the leading banners. "It was crazy how many people were there. I kept having to pinch myself. It was so surreal," Sam said. At some point, when they topped a slight hill, she looked back and could see no end to the sea of people all marching for life.  

Patrick Henry College exists to glorify God by challenging the status quo in higher education, lifting high both faith and reason within a rigorous academic environment; thereby preserving for posterity the ideals behind the "noble experiment in ordered liberty" that is the foundation of America.