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“We are the pro-life generation, we will abolish abortion,” was chanted by Jasmine Stewart (middle), president of Students for Life of America, along with fellow marchers during a March for Life event on Wednesday at Memory Mall. This chant was repeated throughout the march, drawing attention to the signs.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Christopher Diaz<\/p>\n
Students for Life of\u00a0<\/a>America\u00a0<\/a>was\u00a0joined by Republican student organizations to march through campus Wednesday evening, bringing the anti-abortion community together in protest of current abortion laws.<\/p>\n The “March for Life”<\/a>\u00a0movement, which encouraged\u00a0the demonstration on campus,\u00a0is both a regional and national movement. The national march occurs in Washington, D.C., every January, around the anniversary of the 1973 Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion in all 50 states.<\/p>\n The Supreme Court’s\u00a02022\u00a0Dobbs v.<\/a>\u00a0Jackson Women’s Health Organization case<\/a>\u00a0overruled the 1973 decision and allowed states to form their own laws about abortion. Since the 2022 decision, March for Life said its work continues at the state and federal levels, according to its website homepage<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jasmine Stewart, junior biomedical science major and president of the SLA\u00a0UCF chapter, said this is the first “March for Life” organized by UCF students. She said that events such as Wednesday’s march work to bring members of the anti-abortion movement together and help build community within the student body.<\/p>\n “Whenever it comes to the pro-life community,” Stewart said, “I feel like we feel we’re far and in-between, but I don’t think that’s really true.”<\/p>\n The march started with participants gathered outside the student union, where they carried handmade and printed signs. Before the march made its way around campus,\u00a0Stewart thanked those who came in support and shared a prayer before leaving the student union.<\/p>\n In conjunction with the march, SLA\u00a0hosted a fundraiser for CHOICE Women\u2019s Clinic,<\/a> a women\u2019s resource and health clinic just five miles from UCF’s campus. The clinic’s mission is to “empower abortion-determined women and men facing unplanned pregnancies to make healthy life choices\u00a0through medical services, education and ongoing support through the love of Jesus Christ,”\u00a0according to its website<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Stewart said she chose to partner with CHOICE\u00a0because she wanted “something that would be very accessible for students.” By the end of the march, SLA raised $855 of their $1500 goal, with all proceeds going to CHOICE.<\/p>\n Joseph Young, junior advertising and public relations major and\u00a0vice president of SLA, said he thought the march was important in sharing alternative options to women seeking abortions.<\/p>\n “It really matters to me because when I see abortion being modernized as a convenience for people who might think they need an abortion, but really they do have other options,” Young said.\u00a0“I see that as a great injustice.”<\/p>\n Young said he viewed the march as a space to change students’ attitudes towards abortion through open discussions.<\/p>\n “Those fetuses are humans, and I believe they deserve the right to live, as we all do,” Young said.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration reported 48,149 abortions in Florida in 2025<\/a>.\u00a0The Guttmacher Institute, a research organization focused on reproductive health rights,\u00a0reported 73,710 abortions in Florida in 2024<\/a>, signifying a decrease of 40% in abortion rates in the state over the past year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Guttmacher Institute also estimates an 8% decline in the number of people who crossed state lines seeking an abortion from 2024 to 2025, and\u00a0a 16% decline from 2023.<\/p>\n In a news release<\/a> from Guttmacher Institute detailing the 2025 abortion incident and travel data, Isaac Maddow-Zimet, data scientist and lead researcher at Guttmacher Institute, said interstate travel for abortion is still a critical option for many.<\/p>\n “These data indicate major shifts in how people in states with total abortion bans are seeking care, with fewer people traveling out of state and more accessing care via telehealth,” Maddow-Zimet said in the release.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Guttmacher Institute\u00a0<\/a>reported\u00a0<\/a>91,000\u00a0abortions were delivered via telehealth in 2025, an increase from 74,000 delivered in 2024.\u00a0<\/p>\n As the march made its way around the Student Union and to Memory Mall, participants could be heard chanting, “We are the pro-life generation,” and “We will abolish abortion.”<\/p>\n Members also held signs that read, “A person is a person no matter how small,” “You knitted me together in my mother\u2019s womb,” “Unborn lives matter,” as well as other messages.<\/p>\n Matthew Scott Lloyd, sophomore aerospace engineering major and\u00a0a member of the anti-abortion movement, said that he feels the way the unborn are treated is a great tragedy. He said that student activism, like the march, was important because young adults form their opinions during their early 20s, which remains for the rest of their lives.<\/p>\n “An inhumane, unjust act like this needs to be completely abolished just like we did to slavery,” Lloyd said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Roe v. Wade,\u00a0a landmark Supreme Court case, was repealed in 2022, allowing states to form their own laws about abortion. Florida adopted a six-week abortion ban in May 2024,\u00a0banning abortion after the six-week gestational stage, with exceptions for rape and incest<\/a>. Florida is one of five states with a six-week abortion ban, according to The Guttmacher Institute<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n On Wednesday, members of the pro-life movement held a March for Life event at Memory Mall, where attendees held anti-abortion signs.<\/p>\n Christopher Diaz<\/p>\n The march ended at the Starbucks at Memory Mall, where multiple Republican student organizations set up for tabling and questions. The UCF Police Department escorted the marchers to and around Memory Mall.\u00a0<\/p>\n After the march had ended, Stewart said she thought it went well. She said\u00a0she was happy to see familiar and unfamiliar faces and she hopes this made a difference.<\/p>\n “I see people that are here from political groups, from ministry groups, even just complete strangers. It’s good to see people coming together over a common issue,” Stewart said.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n