National Pro-Life Conference: Day 3 (Part 3)

Among the last events at our conference was the meeting for the National Campus Life Network, led by Theresa Matters. There we've exchanged our ideas and experience of advancing fetal rights on campuses. Most of the women who resort to abortions are of university age. University students - those are the teachers, doctors, lawyers and politicians of tomorrow. Thus, approaching students on campuses is vital to a pro-life movement.

Of course, as we all know, campuses are the most heavily guarded strongholds of our opponents. Sometimes the student unions refuse registration to pro-life clubs. Posters and literature are often taken down and destroyed within hours. So how could a group of devoted students overcome those hardships?

In order to win, we must be persistent, dedicated and strategic. Students may not have much time to think on life issues - thus time must be used effectively. Pro-lifers could try approaching sympathetic groups (like the Christian or Catholic group) for help and volunteers. We must be aware of the groups that could give support (such as NCLN or the local Right To Life group). And of course the pro-life groups working on campus must know all the rules applicable to clubs - to avoid giving the opponents at the student unions the formal reason to shut them down.

The approach could be different for each specific university. For example, if the campus is dominated by feminists, then it's better to emphasize on what abortion does to women, by bringing in a guest speaker from Silent No More or from any group that researches the link between abortion and breast cancer. If the posters are being taken down, maybe canvassing our using small surveys would be better approach. Using survey would also help identifying potential supporters as well as those who are unsure and could agree to take an unbiased look at fetal rights issue.

Many of us had lots of hands-on experience to share with others. Patrick Hanlon from Memorial University of Newfoundland told us how they've managed to increase the lifespan of their posters from a few hours to a few days by putting questions at the back. The questions read something like "Are you doing that because you can't stand freedom of speech? Is it because a picture of a fetus troubles your conscience?" That was enough for some of the students that were taking those posters down to rethink their actions.

Patrick told us about the battle that the MUN For Life group has to fight to be recognized as a club by the student union. He told us about the excuses the union uses to deny ratification to pro-lifers. (They are accusing of chasing people down the hallways trying to give them literature and even... throwing plastic fetus dolls at the bystanders.) Since the student union has refused to ratify MUN For Life, Patrick himself took the advantage, run in a "by-election" and was acclaimed. Pro-Lifers now have a voice on the student union. If that's not enough, Patrick is serious about suing the union for discrimination.

Minevra from BC told us about similar legal battle at her campus. While the legal process is slow and the union of course resorts to all legal means available to delay it even further, this brought the people and media attention to the pro-life group and to the issue of fetal rights as whole. The mere curiosity ("what's so bad about them, that they got banned by the union?") led to more students willing to take listen to pro-lifers and discuss fetal rights with others.

Yes, pro-lifers still have a long road ahead of them. Laws need to be fixed, minds need to be changes, lives need to be saved... And to accomplish all that we need to act.