Nearly 1,000 pro-life Alaskans processed through the streets of downtown Anchorage in a massive show of solidarity for the lives of pre-born babies and their mothers.

The April 25 Alaska March for Life, which ended with a rally at Delaney Park Strip, included Alaskans from dozens of churches, schools and organizations who oppose the ongoing destruction of pre-born babies through abortion. Prominent officials and politicians were also on hand, including elected officials, gubernatorial candidates and Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox.

Speakers stressed the need to both publicly affirm the inherent dignity of pre-born babies, while caring for struggling mothers, who often feel trapped into getting abortions.

The march occurred just weeks after the State of Alaska issued its latest data, showing that 1,220 babies were killed by abortion last year. Alaska remains one of the most pro-abortion states in the nation.

Abortion survivor Priscilla Anne Hurley recalled her personal experience with the abortion industry, which began in the womb, when she was delivered alive during a failed attempt to kill her during an abortion.

“It was a terrific trauma to my little body,” Hurley said. “I felt the pain, rejection and shame for years that was placed upon me, even though it wasn’t my doing.”

She said the trauma gripped her life, leading to her own decision to abort two of her babies, before then working in an abortion clinic in San Francisco.

“It was a dark, deceptive work of horrors,” she recalled. “The sights, smells and noises I sensed, and the despairing pain of the women, added to the heaviness of my trauma and depression.”

While she sensed the evil of abortion, it wasn’t until she experienced a nearly fatal car accident that she finally left the abortion industry and began a journey to becoming a passionate pro-life advocate.

Not everyone in the crowd opposed abortion on religious grounds. Terrisa Bukovinac is the former President of Democrats for Life of America.

“As an atheist and as a leftist, I can attest to the reality that they have tried to divide us, but we stand united in our celebration of life because it is a gift,” she told the Anchorage gathering. “But we also stand today defiant, in peaceful resistance to a literal genocide being committed against the unborn in this community and communities across the globe.”

She recalled a moment, four years ago, when she went to an abortion clinic in Washington D.C. to help families in crisis, only to discover a delivery truck driver who was loading up boxes labeled “medical waste.”

She asked the driver to give her one of the boxes, which he did.

“When we opened that box, you can imagine that it wasn’t mere ‘medical waste’ that we found inside,” Bukovinac recounted. “It was the bodies of 115 victims of abortion.”

The incident made national news and highlighted the destruction and brutality of abortion clinics.

Prominent national pro-life advocate Terry Randall was also among the speakers. As the founder of Operation Rescue, he is widely known for organizing peaceful sit-ins in front of abortion clinics in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

In November 2025, he announced the purchase of a church and school campus in Memphis, Tennessee, to serve as a new pro-life activist training facility. Operating under the project name “Rescue Resurrection,” the campus is intended to revitalize the large-scale “rescue” tactics that were pioneered with Operation Rescue in the late 1980s.

Jim Minnery, president of the Alaska Family Council, noted that pro-life advocates must continue reaching out with compelling arguments for the dignity of every life, to change hearts and minds. But he also noted that pro-life advocates must not shy away from calling abortion what it is – “murder.”

 “We need to be more bold,” he said. “However, that manifests itself in each of us.”

At one point in the rally, Alaska Attorney General Stephen Cox shared a very personal experience of how abortion almost took the life of his wife.

He recalled that his mother-in-law was being pressured to undergo an abortion when his future wife, Cristina, was in the womb.

“She didn’t take the advice,” Cox said of his mother-in-law. “She carried that child … 24 years later, I met that child – her name is Cristina – and I married her. When I stand here, I’m not talking about politics or policy; I’m talking about my wife and my love. I’m talking about my family.”

Cox emphasized that life is precious – “something we receive” as a gift to be cherished and cared for. He noted that Alaskans have a right to publicly affirm this reality.

“Whatever your view on these things, we’re still a country where people have the right to come into the public square, like we are today, to say what they believe, to speak, to gather, to be heard on this issue, and frankly on any side of it,” he said. “A free people can wrestle with hard questions in the open, without being silenced, without being pushed to the margins. Movements like this one reflect that – people showing up peacefully, publicly, bearing witness – not because it’s easy, or well received – but because we all believe it’s true.”

President of the National March for Life Jennie Bradley Lichter was also on hand. She said the Anchorage march was one part of a much larger movement.

“You are participating in a world-changing human rights tradition of standing up for the very least among us – the unborn,” she said. “The pro-life movement has been marching for 53 years since Roe v. Wade was decided. Millions upon millions of Americans have marched for life through those 53 years, and the witness of all those brave and tireless marchers helped bring down Roe, and it continues to change hearts and minds for life and save babies every day. So, marchers, right here in Anchorage, you are standing shoulder-to-shoulder with all of those marchers through all of those years.”

Lichter encouraged the attendees and praised them for showing unfailing hope and “love for the littlest ones and moms who need a hand, and with your joy.”

She highlighted the fact that the pro-life movement includes nearly 3,000 pro-life pregnancy centers and 400 maternity homes across the nation that provide resources to pregnant women in need.

In addition to the speakers, numerous churches, outreaches and organizations were on hand including, Students for Life from Holy Rosary Academy, Anchorage Community Pregnancy Center (a pro-life center), Project Rachel (ministry for those impacted by abortion), 40 Days for Life, American Heritage Girls, Trial Life and a street team of pro-life young adults who bear witness outside the Anchorage Planned Parenthood abortion center.

Numerous pastors and priests were also among the crowd, as were gubernatorial candidates Shelley Hughes, Adam Crum, Matt Heilala and Edna DeVries.

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