Last Saturday we attended Students For Life’s first Indiana Student Conference, and it was powerful! Students from many schools around central Indiana were in attendance, some even driving from over three hours away to engage in this community-strengthening event. Special thanks to SFLA regional coordinator Mary Carmen Zakrajsek for organizing and hosting this! Here, we’ll walk you through our experience. Speaker: Mr. Marc Tuttle After getting to know other students in the room, we had the opportunity to meet Mr. Tuttle, president of Right to Life Indy, who explicated many insights and experiences garnered over his career serving the local pro-life community. One profound analogy he made was between the current state of the pro-life movement and, yes, the 2008 children’s movie Wall-E. He noted that the plot is centered around the robot Wall-E trying to protect Eve, a being who has effectively taken the last sign of life on earth into her womb. The mission of the pro-life movement is to protect mothers and their children, ensuring that life is defended rather than destroyed. Additionally, he mentioned that the closest thing to a villain in the movie is the ship, the goal of which is to always stay true to its directive of making sure life runs smoothly on auto-drive, with no disturbance allowed; anything that prevents this is to be eliminated. Mr. Tuttle reflected that this is representative of our current culture— the opposite of a culture of life! Our society unfortunately prioritizes a smooth-sailing, comfortable life over a life that may be messy but still is inclusive to everyone and doesn’t dehumanize others. Obviously, it is not the goal of the pro-life movement to force people to experience challenges; challenges are a universal aspect of being human. What we can and should do is to help people through their struggles, offering all the support we can while never negating the intrinsic dignity and value inherent to every human being. It is our mission as a movement to create a culture where life is respected and protected. Another insight Mr. Tuttle offered was that experience with abortion is what often leads people to a pro-choice point of view; lowering the rates of abortion, then, will lower the numbers of those who are pro-choice. The pro-life and pro-choice movements agree that no woman gets an abortion for fun— they are often involved in very hard and complicated situations, situations that cry out for a solution. In a culture that unfortunately promotes the violent option of abortion rather than revealing the many resources that provide financial help and community support, many who are involved in acquiring an abortion come to believe that that hard choice was necessary— that it was the only viable option. We know that it never is. If the pro-life movement continues promoting and providing the resources and nonviolent options that are so needed by mothers across the country, more women will be empowered to choose life. We can show America that no one needs to resort to abortion, because the inverse of Mr. Tuttle’s statement is also true: connecting more women with accessible and affordable resources will promote a culture of life and lead people to a pro-life point of view. Women must know that we can do it! We can choose life and still be successful— with the right resources and the support that is being offered by our local pro-life community. Life Chain This was our club’s first life chain, and we loved it! We had the opportunity to witness to life out in our local community, showing that the pro-life generation is strong and determined to end abortion in our lifetimes! Although a perception exists that those who are pro-life are all “old men” who are hateful and controlling towards women (definitely not the case with all the amazing students we met at the workshop!), we received so much support from those passing by— support from men and women, young and old, from diverse racial backgrounds. It was a further reminder that the pro-life coalition includes people from all walks of life and has never been limited to particular demographics. Of course, there was the occasional middle finger and seemingly-disappointed head shake (our wider culture is by no means pro-life), but we did receive an encouraging amount of support. Events like this are why I joined the pro-life movement. Although I have been interested in apologetics generally for a long time (including apologetics pertaining to abortion), getting involved as a club leader provided the opportunity to act. We can make a difference in our community. Every club that demonstrated our beliefs at that life chain is involved in service to the community in other ways; one of the most important components to the pro-life movement is taking action to provide women and families the resources they need to build that culture of life we fight for— a culture that will continue to support everyone who needs it. Taking Action & Embracing Controversy We then discussed ways we can take action, despite the controversy, to work against the injustice perpetrated on our world by abortion. On the most basic level, we have to let others know that we are pro-life; unfortunately, many pro-lifers do not express their beliefs when topics like abortion come up, and the result is stereotypes— stereotypes ranging from what demographics we belong to to the sentiment that we are hateful towards women. If we wear pro-life t-shirts or have pro-life stickers, people will know that we are pro-life— and that we aren’t isolated, rude, or bigoted but instead have faces and are friends and neighbors. The pro-life generation is alive and growing; we just have to let people know. Additionally, we must always be encouraging our fellow pro-lifers to join us, underlining the urgency that abortion presents. According to Mr. Tuttle, around 7,500 preborn children are killed through abortion in Indiana every year (a slight decrease in comparison to past years); the time to act is now. Another important aspect of this is educating ourselves about the life issues; there are so many varying arguments for the pro-choice position that can appear to many to be compelling at first. If we want to promote dialogue in the community, we must know how to productively contribute to it. There are so many resources for better understanding abortion and the pro-life position. Always know that the pro-life movement has an answer to any and every objection to it— because human dignity must be respected, no matter the circumstance. Definitely contact us with any apologetics questions you may have (preferably, DM @bjpsrtl on Instagram). One of the most fundamental facets of taking action is embracing the controversy that comes with it, whether that is in emphasizing that our clubs particularly focus on life issues like abortion or in responding whenever it is brought up in class or another setting. We must not be too shy to say the word “abortion” — lives are at stake! Our goal is not to create controversy; we are merely bringing to light this
rather than tear it down; if abortion is brought up between friends, both sides should recognize that opportunity for dialogue that is understanding. As with all social justice issues, controversy is never a reason to back down; we have a responsibility to show our community how pressing this issue is. Controversy is an opportunity for conversation; disagreement is an opportunity for discussion. Groups who attended the conference were (expectedly) met with pushback on social media as well. Of course, a valid question about our position asked by someone who is pro-choice is not pushback— but disrespectful comments that clearly do not seek to further dialogue are (Fortunately, some productive discussion did take place). Controversy is what it is— our goal is to invite discussion in response. Understanding each other’s positions is absolutely important in a society concerned with promoting justice because when we thoroughly understand both sides, we can discover which one is stronger and which one is true— and finding the truth about justice issues is imperative to creating a more just society that respects everyone. That dialogue is another crucial component of the pro-life movement. Our dialogue must be conducted well. Student Panel Since we are very involved in promoting dialogue at our own school through effective apologetics and civil conversation, I was asked to join the student panel to present on our experience. There, I had the opportunity to explain our commitment to understanding and truth-advancing dialogue, as detailed in the second line of our mission statement. I also walked through how we practice that productive dialogue at our meetings, especially as we prepare for our second inter-club dialogue towards the end of this semester. Students from the University of Southern Indiana presented on organization and creativity, emphasizing the importance of building community and having fun while promoting a culture of life. Holy Cross College’s group presented on how to effectively engage our community through social media and improve our presence and branding. Each club brought its differing strengths and weaknesses, and it was so helpful to trade ideas, advice, and experiences and just be reminded of the power of the young pro-life movement here in central Indiana. So many students in the area are doing big things and making significant, tangible impacts on our campuses and in the local community. Our generation is a generation that has grown up without many of our peers, a result of the estimated 62 million deaths to abortion since Roe v Wade. We have not grown up in a culture of life like our great-grandparents and those before them did. We are constantly lied to by a society that posits that the dehumanization and destruction of the most vulnerable can solve our problems. Abortion and its consequences have affected all of us. We are the pro-life generation. We are the generation that must end this devastation that reaches towards all corners of society. * This conference was a powerful way to meet fellow pro-life students and recognize that we are part of something so much bigger. While each school group works individually on its campus, our movement is a community-wide and ultimately national effort to end abortion and protect life. We fight to defend those who cannot defend themselves and work to support those who have not been supported by this pro-abortion culture that has let us all down. Being pro-life is a sign of strength. We will win. Maria ThomasMaria has worked as co-president of Brebeuf’s Right to Life Club since her freshman year. There, she gives talks and leads discussions about abortion and other prominent life issues, emphasizing the importance of reasoning and authentic dialogue as a means to finding the truth.
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