A record fourteen Catholic bishops from across Great Britain will attend this year’s March for Life UK in London — double last year’s number — with the Archbishop of Westminster set, for the first time, to take part and celebrate the opening Mass. 

The fourteen include the leaders of three of Britain’s principal archdioceses — Archbishop Richard Moth of Westminster, Archbishop Bernard Longley of Birmingham, and Archbishop John Wilson of Southwark — as well as other ordinaries with jurisdictions across England, Scotland, and Wales. 

“It is hard to think of another event, or cause, that receives this level of support from the hierarchy of the Church,” the March for Life UK organizers said in a June 2 statement. “Their presence demonstrates the primary importance that the Church places on this key and fundamental issue.” 

Isabel Vaughan-Spruce, director of March for Life UK, told the Register June 3 that she put the high episcopal attendance down to “so many challenges to life in recent times” that it is “a case of ‘now is the time to nail our colors to the mast.’”   

These challenges, she said, have included the decriminalization of abortion up to birth that the English parliament passed in March; “buffer zones” enforced since 2024 to prevent even silent prayer within roughly 150–200m of abortion clinics; “pills by post” whereby women are permitted to receive early medical abortion medication at home after a remote consultation; and an intense battle over assisted suicide legislation that was successfully defeated in April. 

 The latest government figures show there were 251,377 abortions in England and Wales in 2022 — the highest number since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967 and a 17% increase over the previous year.  

Vaughan-Spruce, who has herself faced prosecution due to the “buffer zone” law, said that word has spread among bishops that the march “isn’t something militant or insensitive, but part of a compassionate and necessary response to a pervasive evil.” 

 She added that she also thinks Christians generally “are realizing the importance of witnessing to our beliefs in a public way — that it's not just for show but that it does help others to think and start the conversations that we really need to start having.” 

This year’s March for Life UK will begin in the morning of Sept. 5 with its now-customary indoor pro-life festival featuring various speakers and an opportunity for pro-life organizations to showcase their work. New for 2026 is a “Pro-Life Family Summit,” also called “The Pro-Life Revival,” aimed at 18-35 year-olds who will be supplied with free hot breakfasts, as well as “age-appropriate sessions for children of all ages.”  

The march itself passes through the heart of London, beginning outside Westminster Cathedral and ending in Parliament Square. The day has been increasingly well attended, with a record participation in 2025.   

Vaughan-Spruce told the Register last year that the pro-life event has witnessed “not just a rise in numbers, but more younger people, more religious leaders, more people from all spectrums, and people who have no religious beliefs. We’ve just seen it growing in every corner — it’s fantastic, really.”  

But she stressed that while the numbers are important, the march has become “much more” than that, and it involves the “beautiful, individual and personal stories” that people bring to the event. 

Organizers are urging Catholics “to make every effort to come along and support your bishops” while also encouraging those from other Christian confessions to consider inviting their spiritual leaders. “It is vital that Christians are united in recognizing the damage abortion causes and in speaking up for the women and men who are too often misled about both the value of life in the womb and the illusory solution that abortion is presented as providing,” they said.   

They have made a short promotional video to share with others to help spread the message. “Together, we can send a clear message that we are united in saying: ‘Abortion Hurts the Family’ – this year's March for Life theme.” 

The bishops confirmed to attend this year’s March for Life UK event are: Archbishop Richard Moth (Westminster), Archbishop Bernard Longley (Birmingham), Archbishop John Wilson (Southwark), Bishop David Evans (Auxiliary, Birmingham), Bishop Paul Mason (Forces), Bishop Peter Collins (East Anglia), Bishop Philip Egan (Portsmouth), Bishop David Waller (Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham), Bishop Paul Hendricks (Auxiliary, Southwark), Bishop Frank Dougan (Galloway), Bishop John Arnold (Salford), Bishop John Keenan (Paisley), Bishop Paul Swarbrick (Lancaster), and Bishop Bosco MacDonald (Clifton).