Nov. 16, 2016 By Amanda Conklin Respect Life Month has always had a special place in my heart. I was raised in a very pro-life household and then went on to complete my internship and first job in the pro-life field. Of course Respect Life Month has to do with more than just the abortion issue but this is a centerpiece of the cause. My college internship was working in crisis pregnancy centers in New York City. This experience threw me out of the frying pan and into the fire. Nothing could have prepared me for the reality that although legal, abortion is not safe, nor rare. I heard horror stories of coerced abortions. I met women who had experienced upwards of 12 abortions. I had to watch the helpless baby on the ultrasound screen as a 16-year-old girl who was in her second trimester looked into my eyes and told me she would abort her baby and nothing could change her mind. My first job out of college was with Rachel’s Vineyard national office and it more accurately opened my eyes to the other “half” of the pro-life argument, the women themselves. I can say after my time in this ministry, that abortion is bad for women. I listened to many women over our hotline cry as they explained the circumstances of their abortion and the intense pain and grieving afterwards. I knew that thousands of women were going through these healing retreats all over the United States as I dealt directly with the retreat sites as the executive administrative assistant at the office. I knew this was a cause that would never die in my heart. This passion has been passed on as a Catholic Campus Minister to my students who also hold a similar flame for this human rights issue. I see myself in one particular student who has taken up a specific torch for this issue. She approached me about wanting to do something pro-life on a very pro-abortion campus. This very campus held a “support Planned Parenthood” rally that marched from campus to Planned Parenthood in Canton last year and included many faculty and staff. So, after much planning, prayer and preparation, we went through the correct channels and Newman Club of St. Lawrence University set up a “cemetery of the innocents” outside of the student center. The display had 330 flags with crosses on them to represent the approximately 3,300 abortions that occur each day in the United States (each flag represented 10.) It speaks to the character of these students to stand for life before their peers. Even as we set up the display, many were walking by making negative comments and one student even ran from the student center pointing to our display with her mouth hanging open. We obviously struck a nerve on campus as the Women’s Center, nicknamed the “dub” appeared the next day in the Student Center with a table providing pro-abortion material and offering the students an opportunity to fill in the blank “I support women’s rights because….” I also want to commend the students who weren’t comfortable being visually present while setting up the display, but who still helped in their own way by prayer, helping to draw crosses on flags etc. There are many ways to help advance the culture of life. This has started a dialogue on campus. Christ calls us all to spread the message of the Gospel, the Gospel of Life, to all we meet. For some, that may mean being a visual, audible messenger. For others it may mean deep prayer and contemplation “behind the scenes.” |
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