(Photo: Alex Brandon, AP) 
 
 WASHINGTON – Vice President Pence will become the highest-ranking government official to speak in person at an annual anti-abortion march in Washington on Friday. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 27, 2017 
 
 Counselor to the president Kellyanne Conway joined Pence in representing the Trump administration. Just told them I look forward to addressing National @March_for_Life on Friday. “I want to live to see the day that we put the sanctity of life back at the center of American law and we send Roe v. Wade to the ash heap of history,” he said referring to the Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion. Read more: 
 
 Asked two days before his inauguration how he planned to fulfill his promise, Pence told USA TODAY that it’s Trump who “will be their champion.” 
 
 “The president has taken a strong stand on the sanctity of life and you know I share that conviction,” Pence said.
– The Women's March on Washington Saturday drew about 500,000 people, with millions more demonstrating worldwide. Six days later, another march is taking place in DC, and the New York Times notes this event may be tinged with "a new sense of urgency, anxiety, and maybe a little envy." The 44th anti-abortion March for Life is set for Friday, and one organizer says they're "pulling out all the stops" to boost attendance, which last year was marred by a snowstorm. What organizers hope will draw crowds: speeches by VP Mike Pence and Kellyanne Conway, excitement over a possible new Supreme Court justice who could overturn Roe v. Wade, and "pent-up energy" from those who canceled last year due to the inclement weather. The march is scheduled to start shortly before noon with a rally close to the Washington Monument before participants head over to the Supreme Court, ABC News reports. Pence, who's lobbied over the years to defund Planned Parenthood, is said to be the highest-ranking White House official to ever speak in person at the event, per USA Today; speeches by Reagan and George W. Bush at previous marches were piped in. In the end, though, March for Life President Jeanne Mancini says there's a number more important than how many show up for Friday's march: 58 million, "the number of Americans [who] have been lost to abortion," she tells the Times. (Trump signed an executive order Monday that keeps federal funds from going toward international groups that provide or give info on abortions.)