Activating the Pro-Life Generation

National   |   Kristan Hawkins   |   Oct 24, 2010   |   6:27PM   |   Washington, DC

As students take their classes this semester on campuses across the country, they are facing the front lines of one of the most contentious battlegrounds. College campuses today are the abortion battleground. Forty-six percent of all abortions are performed on college age women and in addition to this, Planned Parenthood directly targets the youth in order to further their abortion agenda.
 
At the same time that students are being targeted by Planned Parenthood, more and more young people between the ages of 18-29 identify themselves as pro-life. In fact, young people today are the most pro-life generation yet. With numerous new polls from the Pew Research Institute, Gallup Polling and the Knights of Columbus, it is amazing to see that 47% of those 18-29 year olds are pro-life!
 
This rising pro-life generation has been often overlooked or seen as just “envelope stuffers” or “door knockers” by the pro-life movement, when in fact it is this very generation, I believe, that will help usher in an end to preborn genocide in our nation. That is why Students for Life of America (SFLA) has taken the lead in educating, equipping, and activating the next generation of pro-lifers, taking high school and college students and turning them into recognized pro-life leaders on their campuses and in their communities working alongside, not under, “adult” pro-life leaders.

Today, SFLA works with over 541 pro-life college, teen, medical, and law student groups nationwide and, this school year alone, we will be starting an additional 80 new student groups.
 
This fall, Students for Life hired four new Field Agents to reach out to, and identify and train, pro-life students who want to start and lead a pro-life movement on their campus. We have a Field Agent in California, Nevada and Arizona, one in New York and New Jersey as well as another in Missouri, Arkansas and Mississippi. In addition, we now have a full-time Field Agent working with just Medical Students.

Together, this team will visit over 125 campuses this fall and will meet with existing student pro-life leaders to help them cultivate and grow their group, as well as reach out to students on campuses without a pro-life presence to start new pro-life groups. In addition, this January Students for Life of America and the Alliance Defense Fund will host largest youth pro-life conference in the world every in Washington, D.C. Just one day before the National March for Life.
 
In addition to assisting students in their mission of saving lives and helping women on campus, Students for Life also connects students to the larger pro-life movement. We have established two national programs to help train students in what it takes to be a full-time pro-life leader after graduation, our Missionaries for Life internship program as well as our Wilberforce Leadership Fellowship. Each outreach looks to connect rising pro-life stars with key decision makers like U.S. Congressmen and Senators, as well as other pro-life organizations such as the Susan B. Anthony List and the National Right to Life Committee.

Just four years, after launching our full-time operations, Students for Life has witnessed incredible growth and success as the need for our work becomes evident each day. This generation is pro-life and they are ready to save lives; they simply need the direction and training necessary.

Our generation has seen the first-hand effects of preborn genocide in our nation. They have had abortions, driven friends to the abortion facility, paid for abortions, and have learned they are missing brothers, sisters, and friends because of this tragedy. They understand the personhood of the preborn child as they have seen the baby kicking in his mother’s womb in real-time 4D Ultrasound technology.

It is so critical at this time in our history that we train and activate the youth and for students to take a stand for Life on their campuses. It is through this rising generation that our nation will finally see an end to preborn genocide (abortion.)