Archive for the 'Club News' Category

The TeenSpeak 2011 Essay Contest asked students to respond to one of the following three common pro-choice arguments:

1. Don’t tell women what they can and cannot do with their bodies.
2. Abortion must remain legal to protect victims of rape and incest.
3. If we don’t have legal abortion, the world will become overpopulated.

The winner of the first prize, a $1,000.00 scholarship, went to Victoria Holmen. Her essay is included below. Have a read—I think you’ll agree her essay is excellent.

Second place, a $500.00 scholarship, went to Joey Pontarelli. His essay follows Victoria’s.

Congratulations to Victoria and Joey!

“Awesome!” “Really and truly a great experience!” “I loved it!”

These are just some of the comments that sum up the reaction of the 140 teens and adults who attended TeenSpeak 2011 on January 29—the largest crowd we’ve ever had at a TeenSpeak conference!

The day began with a fascinating talk by former Planned Parenthood counselor Linda Couri entitled “The Choice Driven Life”. With a unique perspective as a former abortion industry insider, Linda shared how she first got involved with Planned Parenthood out of a well-intentioned sense of compassion for women, but one that she later realized was deeply misguided. Now completely pro-life, Linda has come back to the Catholic faith, and now works with Project Rachel, the Church’s post-abortion ministry.

The audience loved Linda’s talk. Chloe Smith, a senior at Glenbard East High School, commented that it was “so interesting being able to hear about what goes on in the head of someone who worked at Planned Parenthood.” (more…)

If I could pick one word to describe the 2011 March for Life, it would be:

Huge.

The numbers looked and felt especially massive by the time we made our way to the Supreme Court, where we could only take one step every few seconds on account of the wall-to-wall Marchers.

I’ve posted some pictures from the March below:

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“This was amazing!” “Completely eye opening and inspiring.” “Super fun!” “Best ever!”

These are just some of the comments that sum up the reaction of the 130 teens and adults who attended our TeenSpeak 2010 Conference last year. It’s comments like these that have me really looking forward to our TeenSpeak 2011 Conference next week on Saturday, January 29.

On the evaluation forms for TeenSpeak 2010, we asked attendees what kind of speaker they would like to hear at a future conference. Many said they wanted to hear from a former abortion clinic employee. That’s why we’ve invited Linda Couri (pictured above, right) to speak at this year’s conference.

Before undergoing a dramatic conversion, Linda worked for Planned Parenthood — America’s largest abortion chain. In her talk, entitled “The Choice Driven Life,” she will share her unique insider’s perspective and examine the values and motivations of those who call themselves “pro-choice” and explain how pro-life teens can best address this often hostile audience. (more…)

…for being pro-life.

But they offered the club a solution: they can get get reinstated if they become “pro-choice.”

No. Really:

Carleton University’s official student association has banned the Ottawa institution’s anti-abortion club, offering it just one way to get back into good graces: support abortion rights.

On Monday, the Carleton University Student Association (CUSA), decertified Carleton Lifeline for its anti-abortion views. It told the club that being against abortion violated CUSA’s anti-discrimination policy, but that it could get recertified in a day or two.

“We invite you to amend your constitution to create one that respects our anti-discrimination policy as laid out above,” wrote Khaldoon Bushnaq, CUSA’s vice-president of internal affairs. “If you are able to resubmit a constitution that meets our criteria by Thursday, November 18th we will be able to certify your club for this semester.” (more…)

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering why so many people who are pro-life aren’t more involved in pro-life activities, there is often a very simple explanation:

Because they haven’t been invited.

A recent post on the Students for Life of Illinois blog — titled “The Power of an Invitation” — illustrates exactly that:

It was not until a friend at the University of Illinois invited me to pray outside an abortion clinic that the words “pro-life” actually took meaning in my life. Seeing the women my age enter Planned Parenthood wearing baggy clothes one Friday morning hit me with a wave of compassion and sorrow. It brought the pro-life movement from an abstract ideal to a reality in my life with a face and a story.

Knowing the importance of my generation taking a stand for life, I made it a personal goal to invite the women I mentor on campus to join me in the pro-life campaign happening now in Indianapolis.

Last week, I invited Tessa to go pray with me outside Planned Parenthood during our weekly discipleship time. (more…)

Tuesday, October 19 is the seventh annual Pro-Life Day of Silent Solidarity.

For one day, people all over the world will give up their voices in solidarity with babies who have had their voices silenced by abortion.

It’s a little over a week away, and already, students from over 2,100 schools—along with over 120 homeschools, nearly 50 businesses & ministries, and over 500 individuals/non-students—in 24 countries have registered to participate!

Are you willing to give up your voice for a day for those who will never have a voice?

For more information and to register, go here.

This isn’t the first time pro-life students at Carleton University (in Ottawa, Ontario) have been bullied.

But it is the most extreme:

I was privileged to give a series of talks on Saturday at the Diocese of Amarillo‘s Lock In for Life held at Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish in Groom, Texas.

The Diocese’s Respect Life Ministry organized the event, which drew a crowd of over 125 teens, along with many other adult sponsors. This was the 4th year the event has been held, and this is the largest crowd they’ve ever had.

At the beginning of the day, and frequently again throughout the weekend, a very talented and high energy band led by youth minister Jacob Pesina led the group in praise and worship music.

After opening remarks by Respect Life Ministry Director Stephanie Frausto, I gave my “Making the Case for Life” presentation (which I also did as a webinar last year).

After lunch, I conducted a Pro-Life Protest Sign Workshop. To do this, I first I presented several examples of effective, well made protest signs — as well as several examples of ineffective signs — and explained why they were so. (more…)

We just heard from our friends at Human Life Alliance about their newest publication, and I wanted to let you know about it too:

You Can Stop Injustice highlights abortion as the greatest social injustice of all time. Through personal stories, hard facts, and shocking statistics, You Can Stop Injustice encourages young people to take action, giving the child in the womb the rights and opportunities all people deserve as human beings in a just society… While offering students a pro-life understanding of abortion and its consequences, it also asks them to consider these issues from a new perspective – social justice.

You Can Stop Injustice is another great addition to HLA’s excellent line of pro-life materials. See for yourself — you can view it online here, and you can request a free sample here.

I mentioned a few weeks ago that among the hundreds of pro-lifers who participated in our Face the Truth Tour last month were dozens of teens, including members of three Chicago area pro-life clubs (Apostles for Life and Crusaders for Life, both based in Lombard, and the pro-life club at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago).

One of the members of Crusaders for Life, Alexandra Cheatham, was one of those who participated. Her reflections are included below.

Reflections on Face the Truth

By Alexandra Cheatham, Crusaders for Life

People these days are affected by pictures more then they are by words. Words go right through many people and the only way to reach them is by presenting them with something visual.

Realizing this, many of my friends and I decided to participate in Pro-Life Action League’s annual Face the Truth Tour. (more…)

With the new school year right around the corner, we’ve recently heard from a number of students across the country who are looking for help in getting pro-life clubs started at their high schools.

We love getting these requests, since helping get new pro-life clubs up and running is one of the main reasons GFL exists.

It’s for this reason that we created our Pro-Life Curriculum, which is designed as a manual for forming and maintaining an effective pro-life club. (more…)

We recently got an e-mail from New Millennials of Fort Worth, asking us to promote their upcoming BBQ Cook-Off & Bake-Off fundraiser, and we’re happy to help.

This is the first I’ve heard of New Millennials, and it sounds like they’re doing great and necessary work:

New Millennials was formed to help teen mothers between the ages of 13-19 with assistance for themselves and their baby. We realize that many people make mistakes, but sometimes someone needs that extra PUSH to let them know that they can make it! We will assist with housing, food, re-enrollment into schools, and necessities for the baby. Each month the teen mother can take a class provide by New Millennials and receive free donations.

The Cook-Off will be held on Saturday, August 28 from 10:30am – 6:00pm at the Greenbriar Community Center in Fort Worth, TX.

There’s more information available here.

Our Face the Truth Tour last week was a great success. (You can read more details about it at the additional links listed at the end of this post.)

Among the hundreds of pro-lifers who participated in this year’s Tour were dozens of teens, including members of three Chicago area pro-life clubs (Apostles for Life and Crusaders for Life, both based in Lombard, and the pro-life club at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago).

It was great to see so many teens jump right in and voluntarily take on some of the hard jobs — like passing out literature — and engage in (sometimes lengthy) discussions with people passing by who didn’t at all like what we were doing.

Case in point — Alex, one of the members of Crusaders for Life:

My Pro-Life Action League co-worker Corrina Gura was the one who filmed this exchange, and she wrote this on the PLAL blog earlier this week: (more…)

Just released this week, here’s the latest installment of The Rosa Acuna Project, a series of undercover investigative videos from UCLA student Lila Rose and Live Action:

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