(Editor's Note: This article was first published in the April 2022 print edition of The Stand.)
The year 2021 proved overwhelmingly to be the launchpad the pro-life community needed to transition purposefully into 2022. In the wake of the Texas Heartbeat Bill and awaiting U.S. Supreme Court deliberation on Mississippi’s Dobbs v. Jackson case, 2021 saw major moves in the direction of justice for the unborn.
In a study titled State Policy Trends 2021: The Worst Year for Abortion Rights in Almost Half a Century, it was reported that over 100 abortion limitations were passed in almost 20 states over the course of the year.
“2022 will blow this past year right out of the water, and there is much to do as we prepare for the end of Roe v. Wade on our campuses and in our communities,” predicted Kristan Hawkins, president of Students for Life of America (SFLA).
Hawkins reflected on SFLA members who marched in the Washington March for Life.
“It’s interesting,” she said. “You know, you send these young people to the Capitol, and the legislators automatically assume when they see them coming, that they’re pro-abortion, that they’ve been sent by Planned Parenthood because they are students. And they’re always blown away that these young people who have taken on the Capitol that day are pro-life.”
Firm foundation
SFLA is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit pro-life organization founded in 1987 as American Collegians for Life. It later changed its name in 2005 because, as Hawkins told The Stand, it was “too stuffy.”
“Although,” she went on, “I still get asked by Ivy Leaguers why we changed our name. They prefer collegians.”
As a student herself, Hawkins started pro-life student groups on both her high school and college campuses. After college, she worked at the Republican National Committee (RNC) and was an appointee in the George W. Bush administration at the Department of Health and Human Services.
“Through the connections I had made,” Hawkins recalled, “I actually got connected with this group of students, because they had gone to conservative leaders in D.C. and said, ‘Hey, we just got this grant, and we want to launch a pro-life student organization.’
“And then, of course, Washington is a pretty small town, so [the leaders] all said, ‘You need to talk to Kristan Hawkins. She used to work over here at the RNC, and she is crazy about supporting life.’”
Eventually, with her passion and potential, it was no surprise to anyone when SFLA recruited Hawkins in 2006 to become its first full-time staff member. The activist trailblazer has gone on to facilitate the growth of SFLA into the pro-life powerhouse it is today.
Hawkins was once advised by many that she needed to “ease up” on saying abortion would be abolished and referring to herself and students as the “post-Roe” generation – she sounded naïve, no one would ever take her seriously.
Fast-forward.
“I was doing a TV interview recently with two other pro-life leaders,” Hawkins said. “And I was giggling on the inside hearing other pro-life leaders saying “post-Roe” … “post-Roe,” because it wasn’t long ago that most pro-lifers would never say that word ... just a couple of years ago no one would ever have said that publicly.”
But Hawkins has always made it abundantly clear that “easing up” was never on her agenda. Pressing on is the only option. Seeing abortion eradicated is the only acceptable end. Even then, there will be much ministry to do, bringing healing and help to hurting abortion victims as well as to struggling mothers who chose life. And that’s just what SFLA plans to do.
Forward, march!
Since its birth, SFLA has been a relentless advocate for the unborn and their mothers who have been made to believe they don’t have any choice but abortion. Specifically, the organization educates and equips students with the tools they need to champion the cause of those moms and their babies.
“The majority of our time and our energy goes into really developing this pro-life generation,” Hawkins said, “this army of young people going to campuses.
“You don’t really have to convince them to be pro-life, but you do have to convince them to put their neck on the line, to really say, ‘Yes, I will lead in this movement.’
“And what we really like to tell students is that no pro-life student stands alone with Students for Life. We are here with you; we’ve got your back.”
With January’s March for Life as well as the National Pro-Life Summit already behind them, SFLA has big plans for 2022. Last spring, the organization launched its campaign for Abortion Free Cities, which Hawkins believes is one of the more innovative things the pro-life movement has seen in decades.
“This is what’s next for the post-Roe generation,” Hawkins said. “We’ve got about 20 cities we’ll be working in actually going door to door in neighborhoods surrounding abortion facilities, educating community members about the violence happening inside those facilities and the nonviolent alternatives that already exist in their community. We’re finding that more than 8 out of 10 neighbors do not know about the nonviolent resources.”
Yes, 2021 was a banner year for the unborn, and 2022 offers hope for still greater gains for life. The campaign for life marches on, nearer every day to victory. But it is not won. Not yet. Not with dozens of Christian universities supporting and affiliating with organizations such as Planned Parenthood.
Not with over 50% of Bible-believing churches across the country not offering some sort of anti-abortion outreach. There is much work to be done, and it is because of pioneers like Kristan Hawkins and SFLA that the work can be done.
That mothers are changing their minds and choosing life for their babies.
That American cities are declaring themselves abortion-free, sanctuaries for the unborn.
That students all over the country are being awakened to the barbarism of abortion and the truth that their voices for life do matter.
That this dream of a Post-Roe generation will be realized.
SFL: We’ve got your back!
Students for Life of America identifies prospective campus leaders, meets with them informally, and guides them through the process to establish a group on their campus by:
Organizing campus interest meetings
Organizing affiliate pro-life groups
Hosting campus events
Navigating legal challenges
Helping deal with on-campus discrimination
Learn more about how you or your student can get involved in the pro-life movement at studentsforlife.org.
Impacting campus, community
Students for Life of America is having a major impact in its calling to protect the lives of the unborn. These numbers reflect the ministry’s vital signs of life:
127,000 trained advocates since 2006
1.2M online conversations in 2021
25% of abortion-minded moms choose life
$53M in earned media in 2020
$71.4K raised by students in 2020
