As we look forward to the 2026 March for Life on January 23rd, it’s a good time to reflect on how impactful Phyllis Schlafly was in turning the tide against abortion. In the early 1970s, America was not the country we think of today when it comes to abortion politics. Throughout 1971 and 1972, every attempt to liberalize state abortion laws was defeated. But everything changed in January 1973, when the Supreme Court handed down Roe v. Wade and its companion case, Doe v. Bolton. Together, these decisions wiped out first-trimester abortion restrictions nationwide. Rather than settling the matter, Phyllis Schlafly observed, the rulings launched “a long legal and political battle” that would shape the next half-century.
At that moment, the Republican Party had no clear position on abortion. Its platform was silent, leaving room for internal debate and for activists to define the party’s direction. Phyllis Schlafly understood the significance of that vacuum. In 1976, Phyllis made her move. At the Kansas City Republican National Convention, she helped bring the abortion issue squarely into GOP politics. She later described that convention as the moment the pro-family movement truly stepped onto the national stage. Serving on the Platform Committee, she succeeded in having abortion acknowledged for the first time in Republican Platform history. Four years later, during the 1980 Reagan Revolution, Phyllis and her allies strengthened that foundation. Not only did the platform affirm the party’s support for unborn children, but it also removed the Equal Rights Amendment plank, which would have opened the door to taxpayer-funded abortion under constitutional protection. This was a defining victory that reshaped the trajectory of the GOP.
Then came 1984—the year the pro-life commitment was cemented into Republican identity. The platform declared: “The unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed.” It called for a Human Life Amendment and affirmed that the Fourteenth Amendment’s protections extend to the unborn. This became the strongest pro-life statement ever adopted by the GOP, and Phyllis dedicated herself to defending it at every convention that followed. Her efforts transformed the Republican Party into the nation’s leading political champion for the unborn.
If you want to honor Phyllis Schlafly’s legacy and march with us this year at the 2026 March for Life, contact us today at PhyllisSchlafly.com! We will be leading a delegation to this annual historic event, and we’d love to have you with us. Again, contact us at PhyllisSchlafly.com and we’ll see you in DC at the March for Life!
