2016 Year in Review

Hoo boy. 2016. This year was a rough one for a lot of us, for a lot of reasons.

January brought a snowstorm that prevented many people from attending the March for Life and caused the Students for Life of America east coast conference to be cancelled. Then, of course, we had a brutal election season featuring the two most unpopular and untrustworthy presidential candidates in recent memory. Donald Trump’s statements about sexual assault were especially awful. The Democratic Party added an anti-Hyde Amendment plank to its platform, effectively telling two million Americans that it wishes they were dead. The Supreme Court gifted the abortion industry with an exemption from the health and safety regulations that apply to other outpatient surgeries.

But through it all, Secular Pro-Life persevered. Here are a few highlights from our 2016 programs:

We organized the #HelloHyde campaign to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment (September 30) and advocate its preservation and expansion. The campaign brought together Medicaid kids, pro-life advocates, and researchers to illustrate

#HelloHyde organizers at the Pro-Life
Women’s Conference

the life-saving impact of the Hyde Amendment. As a result of our efforts, numerous organizations and media outlets publicized the fact that the Hyde Amendment has saved the lives of over two million low-income children.
We had a great year for media outreach, including a front-page appearance in Slate about the future of the pro-life movement.
We co-sponsored, and presented at, the first annual Pro-Life Women’s Conference in Dallas, TX.
We had numerous other speaking engagements, including the National Right to Life Committee annual convention, two Life/Peace/Justice conferences, and presentations to college and youth groups.
We organized the #NoReliance tweetfest, pushing back against the insulting pseudo-feminist argument that women must rely on abortion to accomplish our professional goals.
We participated in Students for Life of America’s “Election Whine” debate and showed that pro-lifers with differing political opinions can still get along and work together.

This blog had over half a million views, and our facebook page grew to over 15,000 likes.

2017 is going to be even better. We’re kicking it off with a host of events marking the anniversary of Roe v. Wade—including marches, fundraisers for families in need, and activism training—in both D.C. and San Francisco. Check out our full itinerary and join us! The #HelloHyde campaign has a very bright future, as we expect the next Congress to take up legislation making the Hyde Amendment a permanent fixture of the federal budget; stay tuned. The Pro-Life Women’s Conference is coming to Orlando in June. And there’s more in the pipeline we can’t yet divulge.

If you like what we’re doing and want to help us build on these accomplishments, please donate. Secular Pro-Life is volunteer-run and we rely on supporters like you to make it all happen. Thank you, and happy new year!

For Life,
Kelsey, Monica, Terrisa, and Ellen