March for Life appoints third leader in 50 years

The March for Life in Washington, D.C., will welcome its third president in the more than half century since it started in response to Roe v. Wade.

Deputy General Counsel at The Catholic University of America Jennie Bradley Lichter was named president-elect Thursday of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund.

Lichter will take over on February 1, 2025, from Jeanne Mancini, who is only the second president of the organization that was founded by Nellie Gray in 1974. Mancini has served for 12 years, a time in which the March hosted the first sitting Vice President and President of the United States, as well as the Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, which overturned Roe in 2022. 

“Leading the March for Life has been the honor and opportunity of a lifetime; one for which I will be forever grateful,” Mancini said in a statement. “There have been countless highlights during my time as President of March for Life, including the momentous overturn of Roe v. Wade. The heroes I have been able to work with along the way have made this all possible — from our amazing Board to our supporters to our wonderful staff to, last but definitely not least, the collective millions of Marchers I have walked with over the past 12 years. I’m convinced that building a culture of life through compassionate public witness to the inherent dignity of the unborn and their mothers is as critically important today as it was the tragic day abortion was first legalized in the United States – or at any time since. I am more than delighted to watch how the organization will continue to grow under Jennie Bradley Lichter’s leadership.” 

According to Catholic University, Lichter graduated from the University of Notre Dame and from Harvard Law School, and earned an M.Phil in Theology & Religious Studies from the University of Cambridge. She is married to Brian Lichter and has three young children.

She began her legal career at the international law firm Jones Day, where she represented Catholic University. She clerked for then-Chief Judge David B. Sentelle on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit and for Judge Steven M. Colloton on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit. 

Lichter served in the White House as a Deputy Assistant to the President and Deputy Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council (DPC), where she supervised rulemaking and policy efforts implicating the Departments of Education, Labor, Health & Human Services, Justice, Housing & Urban Development, and Interior, and led DPC’s work on regulatory and administrative state reform. 

Lichter also led efforts across the federal government to protect religious liberty, encourage faith-based partnerships, and defend the dignity of life. After the passage of the CARES Act, she coordinated the design of the Paycheck Protection Program’s availability to faith-based and other nonprofit organizations.

Prior to her White House service, she worked on policy issues and federal judicial (including Supreme Court) confirmation efforts in the Office of Legal Policy at the U.S. Department of Justice. She previously served as in-house counsel for the Archdiocese of Washington, advising archdiocesan departments, parishes, and schools. 

In addition to her legal and policy work, she founded an initiative at Catholic University to provide tangible resources and support to expectant mothers and their children. 

A longtime participant in the March for Life, she called it “a storied organization that for 50 years has given the pro-life movement and our nation the great gift of a massive, peaceful, joy-filled annual witness to the dignity of unborn human life.”

“When I first began attending the National March as a college student over 20 years ago, I never could have dreamed that someday I would have the honor of leading it,” said Lichter. “I am humbled by the Board’s confidence in me and thank them for the opportunity to follow in the footsteps of the great Jeanne Mancini, whom I deeply admire, and the indefatigable founder of the March for Life, Nellie Gray. I can’t wait to get to work alongside the terrific team at the March for Life, and committed pro-life Americans across the country, to do our part in building a nation where the unborn are protected, mothers are supported, and abortion is unthinkable.” 

March for Life Chairman of the Board Timothy Saccoccia lauded the outgoing president for her “visionary leadership."

Mancini conceived of a state march program "years before we heard of Dobbs," a case that put the abortion decision back in the hands of each individual state, "and her joyous demeanor has helped to change hearts and minds across America,” Saccoccia said.

Lichter, Saccoccia said, “will truly be a leader in the tradition of her amazing and dedicated predecessors at a time when the need to march in Washington and our state capitals has never been more important. I know marchers across the country will enjoy the opportunity in the years ahead to meet Jennie and march with her until abortion is unthinkable.”