“Do you know someone who’s had an abortion?” The question caught me off guard as I shook my head up and down. As a devout pro-life advocate, I have met many women who have suffered the emotional and physical wounding of an abortion. But I wasn’t prepared for a 13-year-old to ask so boldly, and it didn’t appear he was ready for the answer.
I teach Sunday school to a bunch of bright middle school kids. And that question was posed to me last week by a student. The topic of our discussion was seeking God’s discernment and recognizing right from wrong. Naturally — ok, not so naturally — I switched gears and brought up Planned Parenthood’s history of lies to women. I wanted these kids to realize how discernment is our lifeline when it comes to the skillful deception of our society.
Unorthodox as it is to tie these two subjects together, I won’t allow my students to enter high school and college without knowing what Scripture tells us about the sanctity of life. Because as I looked out at the faces of my seemingly naïve students, I knew that most had already come face to face with the realities of pre-marital sex, unplanned pregnancies, and girls considering abortions. I was reminded of this fact by a pro-life leader I greatly admire, Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life of America (SFLA). In SFLA’s new book Courageous: Students Abolishing Abortion in this Lifetime, Kristan writes, “Our nation’s schools are the Ground Zero of the abortion wars.”
Kristan would know. Along with SFLA staff and student members, she manages 637 pro-life student chapters in 48 states, with the purpose of educating, equipping, and empowering students to end abortion and help women and their families have all the resources they need to choose Life.
In their new book, Courageous: Students Abolishing Abortion in this Lifetime, SFLA highlights the importance of spreading the pro-life message among students by profiling 12 young people in their courageous decisions to either 1) stand up for life on their campuses/in their community, or 2) choose life. One chapter features Rebekah, who was raped in college, became pregnant, and chose life. Another profiles Andrea, a girl who always thought she was pro-life until she got pregnant. And another chapter profiles Caroline, a physician-assistant student who was also expelled for wanting to host a pro-life doctor on campus.
In an e-mail to Concerned Women for America (CWA), Kristan told us that she decided to write Courageous, to inspire pro-lifers — young and old — who face challenges every day to continue on, and to show the nation the real, emotional stories of this pro-life generation.
Encouragement is what pro-life, pro-family Americans need during these tumultuous cultural times and that is exactly what I gained from reading Courageous. Facing everything from expulsion from medical school to abuse and even death threats, these students were unwavering in their struggle to preserve life.
Look out, though, because the students who share their stories in Courageous are the nation’s up-and-coming pro-life leaders. They are the next Kristan Hawkinses and Penny Nances in training. I can tell you from experience that from middle school, young people are facing intense pressure from pro-abortion lobbyists disguised as teachers and school administrators. They are like present-day Daniels imprisoned in the Lions’ Den, Esthers in the King’s Court, and Davids facing their Goliaths — Planned Parenthood.
Pray for them, that like the Godly men and women of old, they too will receive the strength and power to persevere, despite intense pressure to cave in to the lies of anti-life abortionists.
*To buy your own paperback or an e-book version of Courageous: Students Abolishing Abortion in this Lifetime, visit www.courageousthebook.com.