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NRL News
Young,
Active, and Increasingly Pro-Life More bad news for the pro-abortion movement: the young’s growing pro-life sentiment is accompanied by equally growing pro-life activism. Bemoaning the precipitous drop in youthful pro-abortion support, Alexander Sanger, the chairman of the International Planned Parenthood Council, told Glamour, “It’s not just the numbers that are down among pro-choice women. It’s the enthusiasm.” Pro-life enthusiasm, however, is alive and kicking at high schools and on college campuses. Mr. Sanger noted that many of the college campuses he visits no longer have a “pro-choice” group. But he has not visited any campus that does not have “a strong, vocal faction of pro-life women.” The National Right to Life Committee has supported National Teens for Life groups for over 20 years and College Students for Life groups for almost as long. National Right to Life and its state right to life groups have helped launch many organizations for teens and college students. All around the country they are working together to offer support to pregnant women, to discover new ways to reach out to others of their generation, and to learn more about the political and legislative process. The many, many pro-life activities by this young generation include: • The National Right to Life Committee and National Teens for Life held its first National Youth Leadership Summit in January 2006 in Washington, D.C. Teens from around the country gathered to learn about pro-life issues from some of the leading minds in the pro-life movement. It was an opportunity for pro-life teens to become passionate, educated, and informed young advocates for the cause of life. • Students at Georgetown University, working with Georgetown Knights of Columbus, organized an emergency diaper drive and sent diapers, baby wipes, and other supplies to relief centers helping mothers and babies following Hurricane Katrina. • Georgetown, Notre Dame, and a coalition of students at UC-Berkeley and Stanford have all sponsored day-long pro-life conferences. • Minnesota Citizens Con-cerned for Life brings students to the state capitol to learn more about the pro-life movement and to learn how to lobby their legislators. Student Day at the Capitol started in 2002 and the number of participants has grown steadily. • Oregon Right to Life’s Camp Joshua and Wisconsin Right to Life’s Camp Esther and Camp Nehemiah bring students together for days of pro-life education, lobbying, and leadership training. The influx of youth into the pro-life movement is as promising and it is almost unlimited. As one 13-year-old girl summed it up when asked if she would become more involved in the pro-life movement as a result of Camp Esther: “Definitely. Now I don’t think I’ll be too shy to speak out. I’ve got a lot I can do, now that I know more!” |