Pro-Life Club Makes Voice Heard
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The beginning of Winter Quarter is often a hectic time for students. But for Stanford Students for Life (SSFL), January is by far the busiest month of the year. The club’s commitment to upholding the dignity of human life from conception until natural death may represent a little-heard message at the university; nevertheless, in the past several weeks, SSFL has made its presence felt in a large way, both on campus and in the broader community.
Perhaps the club’s most visible activity was a Roe v. Wade memorial set up in White Plaza on Jan. 23 to mark the 43rd anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion. Four hundred and fifty white crosses were erected beneath a banner that proclaimed, “Remembering the Victims of Roe.” Each cross represented 100,000 of the approximately 45 million abortions that have been performed in the United States since the 1973 decision.
A flyer that SSFL distributed to passersby deplored the implications of denying legal personhood to the unborn. However, the flyer was also quick to point out that parents left with “no viable alternative to disposing of their unplanned children” were victims of the abortion industry and called for widespread social reforms to eliminate the root causes of abortion.
Stanford Students for Choice briefly counter-tabled nearby. Jessica Haro, president of the group, declined to be interviewed for this article.
SSFL was present throughout the day to speak with those who stopped by. While many came to express disagreement with SSFL’s stance, the general tenor of the discussions was “very respectful,” said freshman Daisy Morin, who represented SSFL at the memorial for several hours.
Morin thought that the display reminded other pro-lifers of the existence of like-minded students and offered more information to those undecided on abortion. Overall, she said, “it contributed to the intellectual diversity of the campus by voicing an unpopular view on a really important issue.”
The memorial was not the only activity of Roe v. Wade weekend. SSFL also sent ten students on the second annual Walk for Life West Coast. They joined some 15,000 peaceful pro-life demonstrators who walked along the San Francisco waterfront with signs that read, “Women deserve better than abortion.”
Several hundred pro-choice counter-demonstrators showed their opposition by chanting slogans into megaphones from the sidewalk. However, the event was not marred by the human blockades and emergency detours that characterized last year’s inaugural march.
Junior Michael To, who participated in the Walk as a new member of the club, said that his first event demonstrated “how SSFL plays an active role in leading the pro-life movement.” Several Stanford students, including To, were among the designated volunteer coordinators who helped direct the large crowd.
While the majority of the group was demonstrating in San Francisco, freshman Mary Ho and junior Dan Cervantes flew to Washington, D.C., where they attended the American Collegians for Life conference at a local university.
Ho described the conference as a day “full of education, training, and networking with fellow college students.” About 400 students from 100 universities across the country were in attendance.
Two days later, Ho and Cervantes joined over 100,000 pro-lifers in the nation’s largest anti-abortion demonstration—the March for Life in the capital. Ho described the sight of “so many people united for such an important cause” as “a wonderful experience.”
“In a society where many women feel that their ‘choice’ is at stake, that carrying an unwanted baby is a punishment,” she said, “it is comforting to know that so many are speaking up for the little unborn ones.”
Despite the overwhelming number of demonstrators, Cervantes chuckled, the two “made a valiant effort…to make it known that Stanford was represented at the march. We didn’t have a sign for either Stanford or SSFL, so we made one out of two wood sign posts and a classic cardinal-red Stanford T-shirt.”
“As soon as the shirt went up,” Ho continued, “we got so many questions from people: ‘Wow, you guys came all the way here from Stanford? That’s great!’”
On Jan. 30, SSFL hosted Serrin Foster, the president of Feminists for Life, to present “The Feminist Case Against Abortion.” Co-sponsored by the ASSU and the Speakers Bureau, the event informed the Stanford community about the history of pro-life feminism and the need for pregnancy and parenting resources, particularly on college campuses.
Addressing an audience of 92 people, Foster described feminist philosophy as “nonviolence, nondiscrimination, and not using force to control another’s body.” According to Anthony McCarthy, a community member in attendance, Foster “presented a very forward-looking and constructive proposal for helping those women who feel pressured, by whatever source, to undergo an abortion.”
Foster also cited her experiences in bringing pro-choice and pro-life students together at pregnancy resource forums and stressed the need for constructive dialogue. Many pro-choice audience members challenged her with questions after the speech.
Successful completion of so many events requires organized publicity, and SSFL has been active in this department as well. KIHM, a West Coast radio station, interviewed Cervantes on Jan. 20. Five of those present at the Walk for Life were also interviewed by EWTN, a national cable television network oriented towards Catholics. The interview aired on Jan. 26. In addition, two members of SSFL were heard on KZSU, Stanford’s radio station, on Jan. 23 during the network’s weekly program, Stanford Current. The panel of pro-life and pro-choice students discussed abortion-related issues for about twenty minutes.
After an involved and sometimes controversial start to the quarter, in the coming months “SSFL will change gears and focus on more service-based events,” said President Dennis Adams. Activities in the works include visits to the Heritage Home (a refuge for pregnant women in San Jose), a goods drive for a local crisis pregnancy center, and a Mother’s Day gift-making event.
Finally, at the end of the year, SSFL will participate in a Bay Area conference exploring common ground among pro-life and pro-choice groups. According to Adams, this is part of the club’s on-going “efforts to foster a constructive dialogue with all groups directly and indirectly related to pro-life issues.” With no end to the abortion controversy in sight, SSFL will likely remain a vocal, if polarizing, club on campus.
George Capps is the Publicity Officer for Stanford Students for Life (SSFL).
