The following is a lightly edited transcript of remarks by Dr. Kevin Roberts, president of The Heritage Foundation, delivered at the 2024 National Pro-Life Summit, hosted by Students for Life of America, on Saturday at the Grand Hyatt hotel in Washington, D.C.

Look, thanks for inviting me to be here. What a tremendous program and how about a round of applause for Alison [Centofante], Kristan [Hawkins], everyone at Students for Life.

Most of all, from this old history teacher. Thank you for being the Students for Life. A round of applause for you.

I’m in a candid mood this week, so I’m going to be candid with you. Just got back from Switzerland, a place I never thought I would dread going in the battle for the soul and future of our nation. There’s no more important fight, as you know, than the right to life. And there’s no organization more important to winning that fight than yours.

Today’s students for life are tomorrow’s parents for life. Teachers for life. Workers and entrepreneurs and doctors for life. And yes, think about this—legislators, governors, congressmen and even presidents for life. Maybe even the one singing now.

As the dad of four, I love that sound. We’re going to need them. We’re going to need all of you, for we meet today amid a pro-abortion media narrative of smug triumphalism. You’ve heard the story: Less than two years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe, the abortion industrial complex is celebrating an unprecedented political winning streak.

Across the country, pro-life bills have failed, abortion referenda have passed, Democrat leaders are crowing, while too many Republican leaders are cowering from the fight. The pro-life movement in general, and Washington Republicans in particular, were caught flat-footed by Dobbs. Our losses since—especially in red states like Kentucky, Ohio, Montana and Kansas—have been painful.

And like it or not, despite a handful of brave stalwarts, the GOP remains a fickle ally in the fight for the unborn. If it were up to the Republican establishment, the pro-life movement would simply go away. Thank God it’s not up to them. It’s up to you.

Long before the Dobbs decision, Students for Life understood that the fight for the unborn was generational. Like every great moral........

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