Pro-life unity

My apologies for not posting yesterday. SecularProLife.org has been very busy! On Thursday night, I joined Heather (our every-other-Monday secular sidewalk blogger) for a presentation at Liberty University. It was a resounding success! The pro-life students of Liberty were open to our ideas about reaching outside the conservative Christian bubble, and we had a respectful, engaging conversation. The presentation was recorded, and we will do our best to have the video ready for you soon.

On the topic of pro-life unity, I want to share a wonderful editorial from Students for Life of America president Kristan Hawkins. (In the interest of full disclosure, I should mention that I’m a bit biased, as I am myself a Wilberforce Fellow.)

Each summer, Students for Life of America opens its Missionary for Life and William Wilberforce Leadership Fellowship trainings with the same lecture: pro-life history. During the lecture, I speak about the successes and failures our movement has had since 1973. And I speak about the various disagreements that pro-life organizations have had about varying strategies and tactics. The lecture is not sugar coated.

By the end of the lecture, student leaders are shocked and upset by the disunity that has plagued our movement. I ask all of the students to raise their right hand and pledge to work together with other pro-life organizations as student leaders and, hopefully, national leaders one day.

. . .

[Our unity is] visible on college campuses where students from different backgrounds and religions work together to educate peers about abortion and help women facing unplanned pregnancies. They use materials from different organizations with varying messages to form a cohesive approach to reach as many students as they can.

. . .

We believe it is crucial that pro-life organizations not view one another as competition, but work together and not “re-invent the wheel.” For we are not in the business of vying for customers or national fame, but we are in the business of saving lives. It is critical that we keep our eye on our goal and work to end abortion.

We want to be the drama-free generation. We want to roll up our sleeves and get the job done. We want to end abortion in our lifetimes as a unified national pro-life movement.

We hope you will join us. Now, let’s get to work.