On Jan. 23, 2026, students from Biola University’s pro-life club, Love the Least, joined protesters in the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. While the March for Life is an event that has taken place for the last 53 years, this marks the first time in Biola history that a group of students has gone and represented the university.
The National Right to Life organization estimates that at least 100,000 individuals were present for the protest. Of those thousands of individuals, 13 were Biola students and one was a Biola faculty member. The trip was organized primarily by Josiah Clark, a current Master of Divinity student and former president of Love the Least, with help from Dr. Scott Waller, the chair of the Political Science department.
Clark described his initial pitch to Waller, saying: “I told him [that] … I really wanted to get a group of students to go to the California State March for Life in Sacramento. And he said, ‘I’ll do you one better.’ And I was like, ‘I’m listening.’”
Clark had previously expressed that neither Biola University nor Love the Least had participated in such an event before. Waller affirmed this statement, expressing dissatisfaction with the university’s lack of participation.
“He said, ‘It is to our university’s disgrace that we’ve never, in our nation or in our university’s history, sent a group of students to the national March for Life in D.C.,” Clark recounted. “‘Like, I want you to do that.’ And I was like, ‘Okay—cool.’”
This conversation sparked a fire within the pro-life club. To pay for the trip, students began to fundraise by reaching out to families, friends and churches. They also received donations from outside donors, as well as a generous amount of funds from the university itself. This money went towards paying for flights and food. Their housing in D.C. was likewise covered by the pro-life organization Live Action, who offered to put the students up in a hotel at the heart of D.C. After the event, the students found that they had raised so much money, they had leftover funds.
“The Lord provided more than we needed by a lot,” said Clark. ”So now a lot of those leftover funds actually get to go toward other club expenses this semester, like the California March for Life.”
The students first attended a rally a couple hours before the march itself began. During this rally, the Christian worship band Sanctus Real performed as the number of attendees began to grow. Eventually, the students left the rally so they could find a spot near the front of the march.
“The rally was great, and the march was great,” said Clark. “It was super peaceful, like crowds of people were singing worship hymns. As we were walking in there, there were only … maybe two counter protesters, and … obviously, they weren’t happy, but like, nobody was violent. There weren’t any big skirmishes happening or anything like that. So that was huge.”
Waller agreed with this sentiment, and expounded upon what it was like to be representing Biola specifically at the march.
“We were proud to represent a voice at Biola and be identified as Biolans,” he said. “We were part of a cause that is just [and] that represents something that would please God … and that’s a unique feeling … This is the issue of, arguably, the utmost moral moment in our day and to stand for life in the nation’s capital in this historic moment, that just felt [like] we were just part of something bigger than ourselves, and that was fun to be part of.”
Both Waller and Clark emphasized the effectiveness of the march. Waller touched on the national awareness that the march brings, stating that an event so large cannot be ignored. The president, vice president, and speaker of the house even publicly lent their support to the cause, with the latter two addressing the crowd in person.
Meanwhile, Clark noted that the march boosted the morale of those within the pro-life movement, igniting a fire within them to keep fighting for this cause. He also highlighted the Church’s role in the fight.
“It was just really encouraging seeing just the numbers of the people there,” he said. “Especially [the] Church is really at the front of this fight. Seeing that the main groups there were, like Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Calvary Chapel, it was really encouraging to see all of that.”
Some of the club’s future plans include attending the upcoming California State March for Life, running diaper drives, partnering with Churches, and volunteering at pregnancy resource centers. As the club moves forward, Clark hopes to invite students to further participate in advocating for life, and to “love the least” as Jesus commands in Matthew 25.
In His Matthew 25 sermon, Jesus singles out those who are marginalized in society, calling his disciples to love them and provide for them as they would for Him.
“In our modern context, a huge group that fits in that category is the unborn,” said Clark. “They can’t speak for themselves, and so they’re the definition of voiceless. So our job, then, is to be a voice for them on their behalf. And so we love them, that group that Jesus refers to as the least of these.”
