WASHINGTON — The theme of the 2019 March for Life will be “Unique From Day One: Pro-Life Is Pro-Science,” March for Life President Jeanne Mancini announced at an event on Capitol Hill Thursday.

The theme was chosen because science is inherently pro-life, Mancini explained Oct. 18. Science has continued to “reaffirm the scientific fact, and the truth, that life begins at fertilization/conception.”

“Our DNA is present at the moment of fertilization, and no fingerprint, ever — past, present, future — is like yours. And that’s what it means to be unique from day one,” said Mancini.

She pointed out that “society often ignores or tries to block these facts,” and she reminded the crowd that, in 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama refused to provide an answer when asked when he believed life began, saying it was “above his pay grade.”

Mancini said that while remarks like these provide “cover” for someone who is in favor of abortion rights, “scientifically, it’s not factual.”

Fetal development, she said, is “astonishing.” She noted that the heart begins to beat just three weeks after fertilization and that the fetus is capable of movement at eight weeks. At 13 weeks, the fetus has fingerprints, “just like our logo.”

Science, said Mancini, “should always be at the service of life, not the reverse.”  

“Science makes it clear that human life, our uniqueness as individuals, is true from the moment of conception or fertilization,” she said.

This meshes with the mission of the March for Life, she explained, which is to “protect the baby in its earliest stages.”

“So we exist — our very reason for being is to protect and defend life from the moment of fertilization."

Also announced Thursday: Commentator Ben Shapiro and former Planned Parenthood facility director Abby Johnson will be speaking at the upcoming March for Life.

The 2019 March for Life will be held Jan. 18 in Washington, D.C. It has been held each year near the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which declared a legal right to abortion in 1973.