#HelloHyde Thanks You!

On Monday, we finally went public with our #HelloHyde campaign to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Hyde Amendment on September 30. (Go ahead and read that if you haven’t already, so you don’t get confused by the rest of this post.)

The response was incredible. You facebook shared and tweeted the hell out of it. Numerous leaders and organizations, both secular and religious and from all parts of the country, have come on board. We received excellent coverage in pro-life media outlets, including LifeNews and Live Action News. After working on this in secret for so long, it’s a thrill to see the positive response to #HelloHyde. Thank you all so much!

There’s still a lot of work to be done between now and September 30, and we have lots of volunteer opportunities! We need:

• Video editors to help us with the next phase of promotion. Email info@secularprolife.org if you are willing to offer your video skills for free or at a reduced rate.
• People born through the Medicaid program to submit their #HelloHyde photos. Note that this is open to all Medicaid babies, even if your mom was pro-life and you were never at risk for abortion. We are going to put the photos in context with a statistic: 1 out of every X people born through Medicaid would have been aborted if not for the Hyde Amendment. (The statistical analysis is being done by our allies at the Charlotte Lozier Institute and will be publicized later this summer.) Get your #HelloHyde name tag and instructions at HelloHyde.org.
• Everyone to sign up for email updates at HelloHyde.org.

We’d also like to take this opportunity to introduce ourselves. Your #HelloHyde board is a motley crew consisting of:

• Gina Mallica (Medicaid kid): Gina graduated from the University of Florida with a Bachelors in Animal Science in 2012. It was there that she caught the pro-life fervor and served as the president of the UF Pro-Life Alliance. In her spare time she is an avid blogger and actively involved in her church, especially in missions. She lives in South Florida with her husband and cat.
• Stargift Thomas (Medicaid kid): Stargift is a priestess and witch in training under the Pagan faith. She is currently in the process of applying to the nursing program at Lone Star College. She has aspirations to further her education to become a Nurse Midwife. Stargift has a strong attachment to pregnant women and preborn children, vowing to the Goddess to serve them. She is the mother of two children; a son lost in the womb and a three-year-old daughter. She currently resides in Houston. 
• Valerie Lopez (Medicaid mom): Valerie is a “super senior” at
  Texas A&M International University working on her last few
  classes to achieve a BA in English. She’s a mother, wife, and future
  educator. Her personal hobbies are dancing, reading, and working to
  advance the pro-life movement in any way she can.
• Kelsey Hazzard (Ally coordinator): Kelsey is the president of Secular Pro-Life. She obtained her B.A. from the University of Miami and her law degree from the University of Virginia. She is a Students for Life of America Defender of Life Award winner and has appeared in numerous media outlets, including NPR, LifeNews, and Buzzfeed.

People from different faith backgrounds coming together for the right to life—that’s what Secular Pro-Life is all about!