By Megan McCrum,
Academy Program Director
Summertime at
National Right to Life brings a flood of
young people into our office. Interns, law
clerks, and students in the National Right
to Life Academy Program permeate the
organization with their upbeat spirit and
refreshing enthusiasm, not to mention making
things a little crowded.
Representing a
truly broad coalition of diverse individuals
united in their defense of life, the wave of
young people in the offices of NRLC is a
daily testament against the
misrepresentation of the pro-life movement.
(The youthfulness of the pro-life movement
is both jarring and unnerving to our
opponents, who do their best to paint our
movement as one of domineering misogynists.)
One particular
day in late June the students in this
summer's National Right to Life Academy were
presented with a unique opportunity to help
shatter the stereotype. First, a little
background.
The Academy is a
rigorous six-week-long course for college
students. It covers all the life issues,
from assisted suicide and denial of
lifesaving medial treatment, to the
rationing of healthcare, to, of course,
abortion. The core of this schedule, the
piece that ties it all together, is the
daily "practicum" session--a simulation
exercise where each student must articulate
the information they learned about a topic
in a persuasive and natural way.
Their assigned
task may be to lobby against the denial of
medical treatment to children born with
disabilities, or to present a speech against
rationing healthcare. Recently the
Academy's approach to training pro-life
activists to be more effective in advocating
their cause caught the eye of a reporter for
the international television station,
France24, who was working on a feature piece
about the abortion debate in America.
France24
requested to film a practicum session. That
day practicum was no longer merely practice,
but the real thing!
The topic for the
day of the reporter's visit was fetal
development. The students' task was to give
a brief informational speech to humanize the
pre-born child for their audience. Despite
the television camera panning the room and
zooming in on their faces, the Academy
students overcame their nerves and presented
their speeches as if they were in front of
their regular instructors.
Incorporating
speaking skills and presentation techniques
they had learned from earlier workshops,
each student made a compelling case for the
magnificence of human life beginning at its
earliest stages. Relying solely on the
biological facts the Academy students showed
their audience that the respect for life is
not confined to a religious creed.
While likely not
expecting to have a real world media
experience in their second week at National
Right to Life, they were nonetheless
articulate, confident, and persuasive.
From varied
backgrounds and a variety of perspectives
each student brought a different personal
touch to their speech. Though there is
still much more to learn over the next four
weeks, the Academy students have already
proven themselves to be more than up to
their task.
