For Teens

Pro-Life Student Groups Announce Winner of Pro-Life Activism Awards

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Human Life Alliance (HLA) and Students for Life of America (SFLA) announced the winners of the second annual Campus Impact Award last week.

Designed to encourage students to develop pro-life activism on campus, this year's award winners include clubs that sponsored a major first time event and two unique African American student outreach projects.

"It was difficult to select a winner this year," stated HLA Executive Director Jo Tolck. "Student clubs from around the country worked on a variety of projects -- many faced great opposition. We're proud of each and every one of them."

First Place: Northeastern University Right to Life (Boston, Massachusetts). This newly created pro-life club hosted its first "Respect Life Week" on campus. Among the many events designed to generate campus wide discussion of life issues were a memorial of innocents, pro-life pamphlet distribution, tabling and fetal model displays.

Second Place: Students for Life at Clarion University (Clarion, Pennsylvania). Creation of a campus collation designed to explore the impact of abortion on the African American community was the main outreach. Co-sponsoring organizations included Minority Students Services, Brothers of Christ and the local NAACP chapter. HLA's "Did You Know?" publication was distributed to create an early demand for information, which culminated in a screening and discussion of the pro-life documentary "Maafa21."

Third Place: Dukes for Life at James Madison University (Harrison, Virginia). A unique approach to communications and advertisement allowed Dukes for Life to develop a pro-life Facebook event for their campus. Students used HLA materials to create pro-life campus bulletin boards and posters to co-sponsor an event with the Student Black Alliance to focus on the genocidal consequences of abortion in the African American community.

SFLA Executive Director Kristan Hawkins said, "These students for life clubs have worked hard to present a pro-life message on campus. In many cases they must stand up to classmates and professors who ridicule them and belittle their deeply held belief that all life is worth protecting, including life in the womb."

Winners received cash prizes of $500, $250 and $250, respectively, to develop ongoing pro-life efforts on campuses.

Source Link: http://www.lifenews.com/nb289.html

Students for Life of America’s National Conference: http://www.studentsforlife.org/index.php/conferences/conferenceschedule/

The annual Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life, held at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. connects and educates college and high school students from around the country on the day before the annual March for Life in January in Washington, D.C. For additional information visit: www.cardinaloconnorconference.com.

The 2009 Pennsylvania Pro-Life Conference was held at the Hilton Conference Center in Scranton on October 24, 2009
The STUDENT BREAKOUT SESSIONS just for teens included:

Umbert the Unborn: A Womb With A View – Creative Approaches to Pro-Life Issues - Gary Cangemi

Finding the Path to Purity in a Polluted World – Emily Parke Chase

Remembering Terri Schiavo: My Families’ Battle to Save My Sister’s Life – Bobby Schindler

Recordings are available from Lighthouse Tapes. Click here for more information.

On the Edge Radio Show Podcast On the Edge is a fast-paced, roundtable discussion among a new generation of pro-life experts who work daily in the trenches of the movement. Host Eric Martin and co-hosts Michael Hichborn and Katie Walker will educate, motivate, mobilize and often entertain you for 57 minutes every week.
Listen to the podcast available here

Teens, The Pro-Life Movement Needs You!

by Sue Cirba

Today, after a visit to my grandmother in the nursing home, I stopped in the chapel to read the Bible. I opened to Jeremiah Chapter 1:5 "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you and before you were born I consecrated you a prophet to the nations." Active in the pro-life movement since age 18, I read that verse many times. Lately, I have been re-examining the direction of my life. What does God want? Opening to that verse today seems to confirm He wants me where I am. Part of the plan for my life is to be engaged in the struggle to end abortion.

God knew Jeremiah before He formed him in the womb of his mother and had a plan for his life. God knew us before He formed us in our mother's womb and has a plan for our lives. God has a plan for each child He creates in a mother's womb, including the more than 43 million children who have been killed in the United States since the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973. How it must pain God to have these precious gifts, His children, thrown back in His face!

Teenagers can identify with uncertainty over the direction and plan for one's life. During high school they make plans for college, seek employment, and form relationships. All of these things will lead them in a particular direction. In a teen's efforts to discover his path in life, I hope he will ask if God is calling him to participate in the battle to end abortion in our land.

I hope the adults in his life will encourage him to get involved. There are many opportunities. Teens can participate in the Youth for Life Art and Essay Contest, or make plans to attend the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Convention to be held in Scranton (October, 2009). Teens can speak out in their schools. Do a report on a pro-life issue. Join or start a pro-life club. Write about pro-life issues in the student newspaper.

Abortionists and mothers who abort are not the only ones responsible for the continuation of abortion. Persons who are apathetic to the plight of the unborn bear responsibility. When we reject the unborn, we also reject their potential contributions to the world. It is impossible to estimate the love and joy these children could have brought to the lives of millions of adoptive couples, but it is possible to estimate the economic impact of abortion on our land.

Laura Antkowiak of National Right to Life wrote, "Abortion slows the labor force. A Federal Reserve report described the labor market as "very tight" to the point where worker shortages constrained economic activity in some fields." If abortion were not legalized in 1973, in 1998 alone more than seven million additional workers would be in the labor force."

"Abortion drives the Social Security crisis. The main reason for Social Security's long-range financing problem is demographic. In 1998 alone, the billions of dollars that the victims of Roe v. Wade would have contributed to Social Security could support over 785,000 retired workers for the entire year," states Antkowiak. Abortion is harmful to our nation.

Abortion kills babies and hurts women. Olivia Gans stated at a "Silent No More" rally in Washington D.C., "We are mothers with empty arms." Dozens of women described abortions harmful effects in their lives on January 22nd. An unplanned pregnancy may pose an immediate problem for a woman, but these are surmountable problems. Alternatives to abortion groups offer compassionate counseling and real help.

Giving birth also brings the mother potential for spiritual growth in addition to the many intangible rewards motherhood offers. Fr. Frank Pavone writes, "Christ laid down His life for me, so we lay down our lives for one another." A young woman can choose love or selfishness, good or evil, life or death. Scripture tells us "Choose life that YOU and your descendants may live."

We should care about the unborn child and his mother, because the business of a Christian is love. In his day Jeremiah answered God's call, "Sovereign Lord, I don't know how to speak I am too young." Perhaps he did not have enough confidence in himself to do the job. Perhaps he hoped God would send an adult. God said to Jeremiah, "I will give you the words." Jeremiah trusted God.

Abortion is an overwhelming problem. We can scarcely comprehend the numbers. It may seem too complicated for a teen. How can we help to end abortion? What can we say to convince others? Like Jeremiah, God will give us the words if we pray, and trust Him.

(Note: This article was printed in a past edition of The Pro-Life Reporter. Events mentioned in this article are held annually, except for the PA Pro-Life Convention which will be held in October, 2009 in Scranton, PA.)

Teens needing further information about pro-life events, pro-life issues for reports, or advice on starting a pro-life group at your school can contact Mrs. Cirba at lifeissues@hotmail.com