Archive for the 'Club News' Category

In last Sunday’s New York Times magazine, there’s an interesting feature story on a new movement among students on Ivy League university campuses to embrace chastity. It highlights in particular an abstinence club at Harvard called True Love Revolution.

Now, not at all surprisingly, the story has some flaws.

At one point, for example, the author, Randall Patterson, mentions the 2004 Waxman Report, which, he states, “found that 11 of 13 abstinence curriculums that his government-reform committee examined were rife with scientific errors and false and misleading information about the risks of sexual activity”.

He says nothing further about the Waxman Report—and he certainly doesn’t refer to its thorough critiques, which show that the Waxman Report itself is full of errors and false and misleading information.

On the whole, though, the article is quite good, and portrays the courageous students who are boldly proclaiming the value of chastity in a favorable light.

The article focuses a great deal on one member of True Love Revolution, Janie Fredell, who has a gift for articulating a range of arguments for why living chastely is a common sense lifestyle choice:

“It’s an odd thing to see one’s lifestyle essentially attacked in The Crimson,” Fredell said. She began to feel a need to stand up for her beliefs, and what she believed in more than anything at Harvard was the value of not having premarital sex. In an essay she wrote for The Crimson, she asserted that “virginity is extremely alluring,” though its “mysterious allure . . . is not rooted in an image of innocence and purity, but rather in the notion of strength.” As she told me later, “It takes a strong woman to be abstinent, and that’s the sort of woman I want to be.”

During the club’s first year, they made a lot of enemies: (more…)

I received an e-mail from John Bishop, president of Students for Life at Dowling Catholic High School in Des Moines, IA:

Recently our pro-life club in Des Moines tried something new. We rented out a skating ring and all of the proceeds went to an organization called Virtue Media. The skating event went well but I wanted to make sure you knew about Virtue Media. The organization has been having success in the Des Moines area. They put pro-life television commercials on the air and hundreds of babies have been saved in the Des Moines area because of them. Virtue Media makes it so easy for youth clubs to make money for cause, and their commercials are so successful.

Very impressive, John! Thanks for sharing this information. I encourage all of you to please consider having your club raise funds for Virtue Media.

The UCLA pro-life student group Live Action has just released the second video in a series exposing Planned Parenthood’s racism:

Read more about their investigation here.

HT: Jill Stanek

Previous

• Show Me the Money!
• Planned Parenthood Threatens Student with Lawsuit

An abortion debate at York University in Toronto—a public univeristy, and the third-largest university in Canada—was cancelled by the university’s Student Union just hours before it was scheduled to take place.

Margaret Fung, the president of the pro-life group Students for Bioethical Awareness—one of the groups that sponsored tried to sponsor the debate—said:

I was told in a meeting by members of the York Federation of Students [YFS] that debating abortion is comparable to debating whether a man should be allowed to beat his wife. They said that there is freedom of speech to a limit, and that abortion is not an issue to debate. They demanded that the event not take place and shut us down. [emphasis added]

The interesting thing is that debating abortion is actually like debating whether a man should be allowed to beat his wife—only for the exact opposite reason why the YFS thinks it is.

Also at this meeting, Fung says that Jeremy Salter, the executive director of YFS, “compared pro-lifers to the KKK”.

Considering the report UCLA pro-life students released last week about Planned Parenthood employees’ willingness to take donations for the specific purpose of killing black babies, Salter’s comparison was, um, not very well timed.

Hello everyone!

My name is Margaret and I am another one of the student guest bloggers who will be posting my pro-life news, reflections and experiences on this site. Like Christina, I am thrilled to be involved in the pro-life movement in this way and I am very grateful for the invitation to write on this blog!

I am especially excited because not only does this site give me the chance to be able to continually put in my two cents about pro-life issues, but it allows me publicize upcoming events and fundraisers being put on by my church’s new teen pro-life group, Apostles for Life, as well as other clubs in the area!

Now, let me tell you a little about myself- I am sixteen years old (seventeen later this month!) and a junior in high school. I am primarily home schooled, but I also take some classes at my local community college.

I live in a little suburb about forty minutes west of Chicago, Illinois. I am the third of five children, with one older sister and brother and two younger brothers. I have basically been involved in the pro-life movement as long as I can remember, but I did not become a passionate member until my teen years when I started discovering for myself what it means to be pro-life.

My hobbies include: playing the flute and the tuba (but never at the same time), helping teach catechism at my church, volunteering with my 4-H group, working at my part-time job, and participating in my local pro-life club.

Right now, my main focus has been working with the already mentioned pro-life club, Apostles for Life, at my church, Sacred Heart. We are currently planning a baby bottle fundraiser where the proceeds will go directly to the crisis pregnancy center Woman’s Choice Services.

For all of you who are not familiar with how a baby bottle fundraiser works, a pro-life organization passes out baby bottles for everyone to take home. Then, each individual who took a bottle fills it up with money or loose change until the bottle is full. Then everyone returns their bottles and the organization donates the money to a crisis pregnancy center or other pro-life cause.

We will be passing out bottles at all of the Masses at Sacred Heart in Lombard, IL, the weekend of March 8-9. Please pray for the success of our first fundraiser!

I hope to be able to post more soon. Until then- God bless!

Yesterday, UCLA pro-life students, led by junior Lila Rose (who made national news last year when she posed as an underage girl and secretly recorded a conversation in which a Planned Parenthood Los Angeles employee recommended that she lie about her age to avoid being reported as a victim of statutory rape, and was then threatened by PPLA with a lawsuit), have just released the latest edition [PDF] of their newspaper, The Advocate.

It’s an eye-opener:

Over the summer, The Advocate… [had] an actor call [Planned Parenthood] clinics across the country and pose as a donor. The actor… communicated… a very racist agenda, the one Margaret Sanger, PP’s founder, envisioned.

He… asked to donate money specifically for the abortions of African-American babies… to “lower the number of blacks in America.” Despite his bigoted requests, no PP employee (or director of development, in one case) declined the tainted money…. In fact, some even went as far as agreeing with the antiblack agenda….

See — and hear — for yourself: (more…)

This year’s TeenSpeak conference was excellent!

We had two incredible speakers, Dr. Anthony Levatino, a former abortionist who shared his personal story, and Scott Klusendorf who gave some great tips on how to defend the pro-life position—as well as an amazing group of teens.

You can see pictures from the conference here.

And, here are the videos we watched: (more…)

If I could only pick one word to describe the 2008 March for Life, it would be:

Huge.

I don’t have time to write much about it now, but I at least wanted to put some pictures:

(more…)

You might remember a series of posts from a few months ago about Stephanie Hoffmeier, a student at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, VA, who made national news when she filed a lawsuit against her school for refusing to allow her to start a pro-life club.

After Stephanie sued Colonial Forge, the school — very wisely — backed down and let Stephanie and other pro-life students start their club.

After a case like this, you’d think that no other school in the country would ever want to make the same mistake of trying to tell pro-life students they don’t have the same rights as the rest of their classmates.

You wouldn’t think any school would want to risk being sued and getting lots of negative publicity, especially when it’s so clear that schools have no right to discriminate against pro-life students.

Unfortunately, discrimination against pro-life students in public schools continues. But thankfully, some students refuse to take no for an answer.

This article reports that “P.A.”, a student at Westmont High School in Campbell, CA, is suing Westmont because the school is preventing her from starting a pro-life club:

Among other things, the suit contends that the school would not allow the anti-abortion club to convey information through public address announcements, the school website, bulletin boards and other advertising methods. The club bills itself as the “Live Action” club.

Here’s the really interesting part:

The student submitted a request to the school in October to start the anti-abortion club, but was denied access to “any avenue through which they might tell other students about the club,” according to the lawsuit. The suit contends the club also could not include the phrase “pro-life” in its name.

The school definitely won’t want to risk losing a lawsuit, and since this is such a clear case of illegal discrimination, I’d be very surprised if they don’t back down.

Our prayers are with you, P.A.!

[HT: Mark Shea]

If you haven’t yet made plans to attend the March for Life in Washington, DC, there’s still time, but not much. The March is January 22 — two weeks from today.

We’ve mentioned before that in addition to the March itself, there are also many great pro-life events being held in and around Washington the previous weekend.

Try to attend one of them if you can:

• Georgetown Right to Life’s Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, January 21
• Rock for Life’s Training & Activism Weekend, January 20-22
• Stand True’s March for Life Weekend, January 19-22
• Students for Life of America’s Annual Conference, January 20

And, on the morning of the 22nd, there’s also the Blogs for Life Conference, where GFL’s own Eric Scheidler will be one of the speakers.

Hope to see you there!

Registration forms are now available for our TeenSpeak 2008!

TeenSpeak is our annual pro-life conference for teens held in conjunction with SpeakOut Illinois, the state’s largest pro-life convention.

Dr. Anthony Levatino will be the main speaker at this year’s TeenSpeak conference. Dr. Levatino is a former abortionist who will share his unique conversion story and explain why he became pro-life.

Scott Klusendorf — one of most persuasive pro-life speakers I’ve ever heard — will also speak.

TeenSpeak 2008 will be held on Saturday, February 2 at the Drury Lane Hotel in Oakbrook Terrace [map]. More information is available here.

The TeenSpeak registration form can be downloaded here [pdf].

You won’t want to miss it!

If you’ve been to the March for Life in Washington, DC, you’re probably already planning to attend the 2008 March next month, or wish you were. If you’ve never been to the March, you should go — you won’t regret it!

In addition to the March itself on January 22, where hundreds of thousands of people — most of them teens and college students — walk along the National Mall to the Supreme Court building, there are many great pro-life events being held in Washington the previous weekend.

Try to attend one of them if you can:

• Georgetown Right to Life’s Cardinal O’Connor Conference on Life, January 21
• Rock for Life’s Training & Activism Weekend, January 20-22
• Stand True’s March for Life Weekend, January 19-22
• Students for Life of America’s Annual Conference, January 20

A few weeks ago I posted about a student at Colonial Forge High School in Stafford, VA, who sued her school after she was told she would not be allowed to start a pro-life club.

Faced with a lawsuit, the school backed down, and the Pro-Life Club is now up and running, with the full permission of the Colonial Forge administration.

Huzzah!

Stephanie Hoffmeier with her mother, Bernadette [Washington Post photo]

The Washington Post had a great article yesterday about the student, Stephanie Hoffmeier, and her refusal to take no for an answer when the school denied her and her fellow pro-life students the right to have a club of their own.

Stephanie’s comments in the article indicate that she is sensible, devout, and humble—all excellent qualities for a pro-life leader:

“We just wanted the same rights as other clubs. It’s not a radical thing to expect equal treatment.”

“I feel God has put it [starting the club] on my heart for a pretty long time.”

“I just prayed and asked for God’s will to be done.”

“I’m just the one who took action. But there are many others — many, many others.”

God bless you, Stephanie!

[HT: Bryan Kemper of Stand True]

Homeschoolers for Life recently asked us to publicize their second annual Homeschoolers Pro-Life Essay Contest.

We’re glad to do so.

Homeschooled students between the ages of 8 and 17 are eligible, and will compete in one of three categories:

• Senior Writers (Ages 15 to 17)
• Junior Writers (Ages 12 to 14)
• Primary Writers (Ages 8 to 11)

All essays must be postmarked by December 15. More information on the contest is here.

Bryan Kemper of Stand True reports that students from over 4,600 schools in 19 countries participated in the Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity on Tuesday.

Many students who chose to give up their voice for a day faced quite a lot of opposition, Bryan said:

We have heard some of the most shocking stories about how some of the students were treated by other students, teachers and administrators. From being pushed down stairs, shoved into lockers, having tape ripped off their mouths, being called names and laughed at and even teachers and school staff screaming at kids and calling them stupid.

In the face of all this persecution, the students stood strong and continued their vigil for the babies. Christians in American have it easy and don’t face a lot of the persecution that goes on in the world. These students saw some of that and remained resolute in their mission. They have been telling me how much stronger it made them, and how much more they knew they needed to continue to be a voice.

Imagine something as simple as the word life written on your mouth can cause such hatred and anger. This shows us more now than ever that the pro-life message needs to be Christ centered. The only thing that can turn that anger and hatred around, is the hope we find in our loving savior, Jesus Christ.

To all who participated in the Silent Day: God bless you!

Related

• LifeNews: Pro-Life Students Heckled During Abortion Protest Day