Bishop Shanahan High School Receives National Honor from Students for Life of America

The following is an article from CatholicPhilly.com regarding Bishop Shanahan High School receiving a national honor from Students for Life of America during their east Coast Conference:

Many good things happened in Washington, D.C., surrounding the Jan. 18 March for Life, although mainstream media focused on an incident where a group of kids from Covington, Kentucky were thrown under the bus.

A local positive example happened the next day when the students from Bishop Shanahan High School in Downingtown accepted the National High School of the Year award from Students for Life of America (SFLA). That’s quite an honor considering SFLA has more than 1,200 high school and college chapters nationwide.

Along with the award the Shanahan SFLA group received $1,000 to assist it in its mission.

“This is an amazing group and they are working really hard to impact the culture of their school,” said Liana Hollendonner, the Mid-Atlantic regional coordinator for SFLA. “They are positive and articulate.”

   

Probably no one knows that better than Joe Aquilante, a theology teacher at Shanahan for 21 years and moderator of the school’s pro-life group for the past 18 years. At this time there are about 160 students in the SFLA Chapter.

“My job is to take the gifts of the kids and help them to develop them,” he said. “The leadership of this year has been fostered by past leaders. Students for Life has energized youth in a way nothing else has. The younger generation is getting involved, fighting for life.”

Mary Taylor, a senior and president of SFLA at Shanahan, is only in her second year at the school.

“I’ve always been pro-life,” she said, adding at her previous public high school she was in the minority but that is not the case at Shanahan. “I was raised Catholic and know killing anyone is wrong,” she said.

Over the years she has heard about girls getting an abortion but never really personally knew one who did.

Mary personally believes it is her generation that will end abortion or at least overturn Roe v. Wade as national law and return it to the states, and the more permissive laws passed in New York and proposed elsewhere are a sign others believe this too.

The strength of the pro-life movement at Shanahan was really exhibited during the March for Life.

“We had three buses that went,” Mary said. “We probably could have had a fourth. I was really surprised by the number of people who wanted to go.”

During their time in Washington, “we didn’t have any problems at all,” she said. “I feel awful about what happened to the kids (from Covington) and it was really unfair. I saw the one boy on television, and he was so respectful.”

Michael Prieto, also a senior, is vice president of SFLA at Shanahan and has been a member since his freshman year.

“I’ve always felt a call to protect those who can’t protect themselves,” he said. “The Pro-Life Club is a great way to do this. The pro-life movement is definitely huge in our school. I think most of the kids understand what we are trying to do.”

Even outside of the school Michael has not experienced much opposition, other than counter protesters at times when members give witness outside abortion clinics.

“But I was very surprised when we were chosen as National High School of the Year,” Michael said. “It shows people are recognizing what we are doing here.”

At this time all of the archdiocesan high schools have SFLA groups. Others that sent delegates to the meeting in Maryland include John W. Hallahan, West Catholic Prep, St. Hubert and Cardinal O’Hara.

Pro-Abortion Student Defends Infanticide. Killing a 2-Year-Old Baby is Okay Because “It Can’t Communicate”

By Steven Ertelt
Life News

A pro-abortion student has been filmed on video defending infanticide, saying there is nothing wrong with killing a two-year-old baby. The student at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville bragged about his support for infanticide up to two years of age.

The video, provided to LifeNews by Students for Life of America, shows a pro-abortion student defending his position in favor of ending the lives of unborn children.

During the video, the student also defends infanticide and says that there’s nothing wrong with killing newborn babies because they are not capable of taking care of themselves or holding an intellectual conversation. The twisted logic claims that because babies are not on the same level as someone old enough to feed and clothe themselves and to carry on a conversation that apparently their life is somehow less valuable.

That is the same contorted and twisted logic that abortion advocates use to defend abortion. Supposedly because unborn babies are something less than capable adult human beings their lives have no value. It is the same kind of logic that also persecutes the elderly and disabled and says that their lives have less value because they are supposedly less capable.

“The fact of the matter is without communication, we have no way of knowing of you are sentient or not,” the unidentified student says in the video clip. “It’s no different than this tree. It’s alive, but is it sentient? I don’t know. I cannot communicate with it.”

Then he defends killing infants.

“Can the two year old talk to me? In some instances I’m fairly certain that is,” the student said. “But generally speaking the child still has the inability to communicate. And until we determine that as such at what point does sentience become an issue. We can’t really debate whether or not that is the situation or not.”

Life News continues here

Anti-Abortion Student Group Says School Is Treating It Unfairly

 

 From Kristan Hawkins
President, Students for Life of America

 

A few months ago, our Northwest Regional Coordinator, Rebekah Barnes, helped Bryce Asberg start a pro-life group at his school, Wilson High School in Tacoma, Washington. Ever since he started Wilson Students for Life (WSFL), Bryce has faced censorship and delay from his administration. And this December, things got really bad when his school Vice Principal told him he wasn't allowed to post 2 of Students for Life of America's posters because they could be offensive and controversial to some ---even though his school's Gay-Straight Alliance were allowed to put up posters that read "Love Knows No Limits."

Bryce contacted Rebekah immediately, and our team contacted our attorneys. They confirmed that what was happening at Wilson High School wasn't right --- that if the Gay-Straight Alliance were allowed to hang flyers with their beliefs so should the pro-life group. After all, this is a public high school and the first amendment rights of all students is constitutionally guaranteed.

 

Last week, our team issued a public statement informing the media that our attorneys had sent Bryce's school a letter requesting that they allow him to hang his posters and uphold his rights. Immediately, every TV station and newspaper in Seattle and Tacoma wanted to interview Bryce.  

 

Rebekah dropped everything and drove up from her office in Portland to be with Bryce. I hopped on the phone and started training him in how to do media interviews. Our attorneys at the Thomas More Society starting fielding questions from reporters.

 

A few hours after the release, Bryce's school district came out with a statement with blatant falsehoods, claiming they never censored Wilson Students for Life's pro-life flyers and tried to make Bryce seem like he had disobeyed his administrators. While we have the proof that this is false, this caused a lot of stress on Bryce, his parents who have been helping him throughout this ordeal, and the members of his newly-formed pro-life club.

 

Bryce is 15 and has served to be an inspiration for me these past 2 weeks. Like the pro-life students at the University of Alabama, he is bravely standing up for his beliefs and for all pro-life students across the nation who are being censored and blocked by their school administrations.

 

Just watch this short interview he did for the Seattle Fox channel this week to see what a courageous young man he is!

 

view video here

 

This week, Bryce, his parents, and members of his group have a meeting with school administrators, where I'm sure they are going to scold him for taking his censorship public. And I know if I can send him thousands of thank you messages before that meeting it will give him the motivation he needs to keep standing strong for Life.

 

Thank you for always standing with us at Students for Life. You'll never know just how much it means to us!

Pro-Life Discrimination At The University Of Alabama

 From Kristan Hawkins
President, Students for Life of America

Since the March for Life and Walk for Life, our team has been spread out on campuses across the nation helping to start new pro-life groups and plan new events to help educate this generation about the grim reality of abortion. 

And we're facing some new discrimination and hostility from campuses administrations.

Last Thursday, our 2014 Group the Year, Bama Students for Life at the University of Alabama, found out that their approved pro-life display had been torn down by a campus administrator because she deemed it "offensive."

Despite allowing "artistic" displays of male full frontal nudity and blood-stained advertisements for a campus play called "Blood Wedding," the Bama Students for Life display, which featured abortion facts, pictures of women who died as a result of having a legal abortion, and two small pictures of aborted babies, was deemed to go too far. 
This is wrong. 

Too many times, our students are simply too busy with classes and saving babies to report the discrimination

they face. Instead, they go on, take their troubles with their administration in stride, and try a new approach. But we can't ignore this behavior anymore, and I am so proud of Bama Students for Life for coming forward and asking how they can stand up for their first amendment rights.

We've joined forces with the Alliance Defending Freedom, and we are ready to push back. A public university is supposed to foster the free exchange of ideas and speech, but this is not happening at the University of Alabama.

Today, can you help me push back and send a message to the University of Alabama?

Will you call the University of Alabama Ferguson Center Director, Mr. Carl Bacon, at 205-348-8232 and ask him to apologize to Bama Students for Life and allow them to put their display back up ASAP?

With your help, we'll send Alabama a message that pro-life students have just as many rights as everyone else.

Please use this link to help the Bama Students for Life and make sure they have all the resources they need to fight this injustice

Stand with Church Leaders for Life

From Kristan Hawkins, President
Students for Life of America

I wanted to write you today to introduce you to an organization that I proud to call a friend to Students for Life.   


The Manhattan Declaration made a splash upon its release in 2009. This movement for life, marriage and religious liberty, founded by Chuck Colson with over 100 religious leaders including Timothy Dolan, Joni Eareckson Tada, Tim Keller and David Platt gained over 400,000 signatures in an instant. National media were asking "What's going on?" and the question in the Christian blogosphere was "Have you signed the Manhattan Declaration?"


In the years since, the attention has waned, but the Declaration’s importance has risen. Consider all that has occurred in the last year: Kermit Gosnell's murder trial raised new doubts about the permissibility of abortion; the Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act; Christian ministries and business owners instigated legal action over the conscience infringing HHS contraception mandate. Christian photographer Elaine Huguenin may have her case heard before the U.S. Supreme Court, after the New Mexico Supreme Court said that ignoring her religious convictions and endorsing a same-sex commitment ceremony through her creative talents was “the price of citizenship.”

Through it all, the Manhattan Declaration was there providing our signers news, information and opportunities to be involved. The fanfare may have subsided, but the question remains:

"Have you signed?"

By signing the Declaration, you affirm the supremacy of God's law over man’s, promising that while you will always render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar, you will never render unto Caesar what belongs to God.

Read and sign the Declaration here. Would you also consider sending it to five friends who ought to know about it and join the movement?

Alburquerque: What We Need to Do Next

From Kristan Hawkins
President, Students for Life of America

I just wanted contact you this morning to share some of my personal thoughts about what happened this Tuesday in Albuquerque. Our team and students have made it all safely back home. Thank you for all that you did to help support us - spiritually and financially - during our #Stand4Life mission trip to New Mexico. While the election wasn’t a victory for our side, I can promise you that seeds have been planted in Albuquerque, and the dozens of students who joined us there have been inspired to go back to their campuses and hometowns to fight even harder for Life.

What We Need to Do Next

There are going to be a lot of things written in the coming few days about what happened down in Albuquerque (ABQ) Tuesday night. As a political junkie, I have my own opinions on the strategy and tactic side of things.

But more importantly, as a mother and pro-life activist, there is one concern that kept me up on Tuesday, long after the results trickled in.

The majority of Americans and citizens of Albuquerque say they are opposed to painful late-term abortions. Yet, how did that majority turn around and vote by a 10-percentage point margin against the ban? What messaging got to them the most?

Two words: Fetal Abnormality.

Because the ABQ ban included an exception for the physical life of the mother, as all pro-life legislation does, the pro-aborts had to find a scare tactic and that was it.

This is where the pro-life movement must take our cue. The majority of Albuquerque citizens thought that killing a baby in the womb, either by tearing him or her apart or by shooting a toxic substance into his or her heart, was the best way, the most compassionate way, to deal with babies who have fetal abnormalities.
We’ve got to fix this.

I would wager that most of those folks who sorrowfully voted against the ban yesterday have never heard of prenatal hospice or support group organizations like Prenatal Partners for Life. They have no idea that there are people out there, counselors, physicians, and parents who have been through these heartbreaking situations and who know there is a better way to deal with the loss or impending loss of a child.

That instead of a woman being responsible for paying for the death of her baby, she can instead carry her child to term or as long as the doctors allow. She can deliver her baby and hold him in her arms for those precious minutes, hours, or days that her child is on this earth. She is able to say goodbye without any regrets.

I’ve yet to meet a family who had a child that died shortly after birth who regretted this decision. Yet, I meet families all the time who regret their abortion and still wonder if they did the right thing by aborting their child.
Now, in some cases, mothers and fathers are told that while there is a fetal abnormality with their child, he or she will survive birth but will need special care all of his or her life. For these parents, our movement must get them connected with the appropriate support groups to meet parents of children with the same condition and see what a joy their child is. Instead of a family member saying “I’m so sorry that you are have a ‘downs’ baby’. What are you going to do?”, they should be working to make sure the parents have all they need to adjust to the new life set before them or are connected with those in the community who will eagerly adopt a child with special needs.

This is personal for me. My soon to be 5 year old son, Gunner, has cystic fibrosis – a “fetal abnormality” that those in Albuquerque think justified painfully killing him while he was growing inside of me.

Today, I’m 38 weeks pregnant with my 3rd son, Maverick, and I know there is 25% chance that he too will suffer from cystic fibrosis like his older brother. And because my husband and I opted out of any prenatal screening due to the risk of miscarriage, it’s a painful wait game right now until he is born. But we know we will ready to deal with whatever comes our way because, as anyone who every met Gunner knows, he is special and truly the light of our family. Having him was the best decision I’ve ever made – it’s not a regret.

Teen Access to Abortion Drug Easier than Cold Medicine

In 2009, the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that the morning-after pill "Plan B" could be sold to anyone age 17 and older, behind a pharmacy counter.

While the birth-control pill remains to be sold by prescription only, after a doctor's exam, "Plan B" which is a super dosage of the birth-control pill was allowed for sale in drug stores across the nation with no doctor's exam necessary.

The argument for changing the way this drug was sold was to "prevent more unwanted pregnancies" while neglecting the facts that:

• in Great Britain studies has routinely showed the more these types of pills are made the available, the abortion rate remains steady

• this drug is potentially cancer-causing (the World Health Organization has labeled drugs like the birth-control pill to be just as carcinogenic as cigarettes)
• ...and this drug is potentially life-ending because if conception has occurred before a woman takes this pill, it will prevent her child, still in human embryo form, from implanting into her uterus, causing an early abortion

Despite all of this, a pro-abortion judge, with no medical training, ruled this April that "Plan B" should be sold over-the-counter next to other feminine supplies and be allowed for anyone, any age to purchase. President Obama had previously said that even he wouldn't tolerate this.

But as Planned Parenthood and their Culture of Death allies launched a media campaign, he not-so-surprisingly changed his mind and urged the FDA to hear to the judge's ruling, which they did in June.

While the mainstream media won't talk about it, this August the game was changed in our battle to protect young girls from the abortion industry when drug stores across the nation began to adhere to the new FDA ruling... all because of one activist judge.

And quite honestly, our team was shocked that no one else in the pro-life movement was speaking out against this outrage. Everyone told us that while they were concerned, no one really cared and trying to do anything about it would be pointless because the news media wouldn't tell our story.

That was until, Students for Life decided to make our own news.

We decided to go into 30 Rite Aid, CVS, and Walgreens stores across the nation, in New York, Ohio, Virginia, South Carolina, and Arizona, to find out what would happen when a 15 year old girl would try to purchase Sudafed, a common cold medicine, as well as "Plan B."

In every store we visited, she wasn't even allowed to purchase the Sudafed  – YET THEY SOLD HER PLAN B!

In an effort to supposedly "help women" and give them "access," the abortion industry and their leaders at Planned Parenthood, have completely disregarded a woman’s health in the process. Young girls are now able to purchase an abortion-inducing drug without their parents’ permission but aren't able to buy cold medicine.

The logic makes zero sense.

New Mexico University Pushing Late Term Abortion!

From Kristan Hawkins, President
Students for Life of America

Our team is landing in Albuquerque right now and things are heating up. Only a few more days before Tuesday's historic election to ban late-term abortions within Albuquerque.

Last night, I received some disturbing video footage from our Students for Life leaders at the University of New Mexico about what is going on their campus.The Feminist Majority Foundation has flown in and just started a pro-abortion group on campus to counter Students for Life's efforts. They have shuttles running every 30 minutes to get students to the early voting centers in order to vote against the bans.

And the "facts" that they are spewing out are blatantly false.

But what's most shocking? We have video proof that the taxpayer funded, supposedly neutral, University Women's Resource Center is behind the pro-abortion organizing there on campus. Their Facebook page has ads to the pro-abortion websites urging the UNM students to vote "No" on the late-term ban. And one of their employees even told a Students for Life member to vote "No" on the ban.

Here's a short video our students complied of the evidence they've gathered so far. Sadly, I think this runs a lot deeper, but we've got to get out there and counter-act their work by calling more voters and knocking on more doors

 This morning, can you do 2 quick things?

1) Call the University of New Mexico's President, Robert Frank, at 505-277-2626 and tell him to make sure the UNM Women's Resource Center goes back to what it should be doing - helping girls on campus, not lobbying for late-term abortions.

2) Can you pitch in a donation of $10 to sponsor one of the 1200 miles our team is driving today, bussing pro-life students in?

Thank you so much for all of your generous support to help us make Albuquerque the first victory of it's kind!

 Right now, we need pillows, sleeping bags, and some mats for our team and students to sleep on this weekend. If you live in the ABQ area and could lend us these things, please e-mail Missy on our team right away!

URGENT HELP NEEDED TO SHUT DOWN THE LATE-TERM ABORTION CAPITOL

From Kristan Hawkins, President
Students for Life of America

For the past few months, Students for Life has been on the ground in Albuquerque, New Mexico helping with a very important project --- kicking out 2 of the last 4 late term abortionists in America out of the city, which is sadly being called the “Late-Term Abortion Capital of America.”

I visited the late-term abortion facility, which is just a block away from the University of New Mexico, back this spring. And it was one of the most heart wrenching things I've ever seen - a parking lot full of cars with out of state license plates, parents dragging their daughters hundreds of miles to abort their grandchildren in one of the most gruesome ways possible, and a city of people just passing by while babies who can feel pain were being torn apart.

But now, thanks to some of our courageous friends in Albuquerque, all of this could change.

On Tuesday, November 19th, the city will take a historic vote as to whether or not ban late term abortions (20 weeks plus) within its limits. Effectively, kicking out the 2 late term abortionists there and ending their preying on vulnerable college girls. This will be the first time in America, this action will have ever been taken.

…and your Students for Life #Stand4Life team will be there, on the ground, fighting for this life-saving ballot initiative, but I need your help!

This isn't in our annual budget, but I know we have to be there. Our voices must be heard.

Like we did in Austin, TX this summer, pro-life high school and college students from around the country will be joining together in Albuquerque the weekend before the election to show the nation that we are the pro-life generation. And our help is desperately needed to make phone calls, knock on doors, visit churches, distribute flyers, and more.

Polling data has shown that the vast majority of Americans and the citizens of Albuquerque support banning abortion at 20 weeks, but pro-lifers will need to have an outstanding ground game to secure victory as Planned Parenthood and their Culture of Death allies are already there spending millions to ensure this ban doesn't pass.

Already, MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has been featuring this historic vote on her nightly news show and the other side is worried.

We have vans leaving from Phoenix, the Colorado Four Corners area, and Colorado Springs full of students in the next week who will be traveling as far as 10 hours to get to Albuquerque. But in order to get them there, I desperately need your gift of even just $25 to pay for these van rentals, the gas money, hotel rooms, and meals for our students.

These kids are giving up a lot as volunteers, missing their studies and preparing to endure the ridicule of paid abortion staffers. Can you chip in just $25 today to sponsor one night's worth of lodging for one student or maybe as much as $250 which is what we estimate each student's expenses will cost for the weekend?

Winning this vote will save countless lives in the city that is home to the largest late-term abortion facility in America and where abortion is currently legal through all nine months of pregnancy, paid for by New Mexico taxpayers. We know that pre-born babies feel excruciating pain in abortions committed at 20 weeks and that late-term abortions carry significantly higher health risks for women.

We Are Being Mocked!

 From Kristan Hawkins
President, Students for Life of America

You are not going to believe this one.

Students for Life has apparently been SO successful that some of those in the pro-abortion movement decided to make a play, mocking our organization and the entire pro-life generation.

That’s right, a whole play mocking Students for Life, our National Conference, and the pro-life students who are making a real difference on campuses across America.

 According to the writer, she was inspired to make this play after going undercover at Students for Life's National Conference and becoming “disturbed by how much enthusiasm there was for the pro-life issue amongst youth" and she wanted to show those in her movement our enthusiasm to abolish abortion in order "to wake up the pro-abortion movement”.

She even commented, that when we went to our National Conference that she "was really afraid to see all these people who had just come to the conclusion that they needed to abolish abortion on their own terms."

That’s right, we’ve been so effective at growing the pro-life generation, that our enthusiasm to abolish abortion has “disturbed” the pro-abortion side and made them afraid of this generation.

But here’s the kicker.

The writer admitted during the Question & Answer session after her New York City premiere that she had to rewrite several scenes of the play relating to fetal development, because they were actually causing her audience to question their pro-abortion beliefs!

This just goes to show you- every time you tell people the truth, the pro-life movement grows…. And the only way the pro-abortion side wins is by hiding the truth.

So how do we respond to this outrageous play? (I can't even show you our footage from the play because it is so sexualized and graphic.)

We keep doing what we are doing - changing the culture of our nation by simply speaking the truth...one student, one scared mom, one campus at a time. And we could really use your help today so we can keep spreading our Light, our truth- that every abortion ends a human life.

 They may mock us, but in the end we know where our final victory lies. And we know, we much continue marching forward!

Use this link to help support Students for Life of America