CV NEWS FEED // Student involvement in pro-life advocacy organizations is rising on college campuses nationwide, with both private and public universities seeing increased student participation since the 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade, according to a March 31 article published by Rewire News Group.
The article is a part of the publication’s monthly series Campus Dispatch “[exploring] how Gen Z is uniquely impacted by confusing and ever-changing policies on reproductive, voting, and LGBTQ+ rights,” according to the series landing page.
Rewire News Group author Anika Asthana, a senior at Princeton University, reports that the student-led pro-life clubs on campus “act as hubs for the anti-abortion movement.”
“Clubs host their own conferences, attend the March for Life, and host prominent anti-abortion advocates,” she wrote.
The clubs’ attendance rates are increasing, according to Asthana.
The University of Notre Dame’s Right to Life club is considered the largest pro-life student group in the country, with more than 700 members. Student involvement in Princeton University’s pro-life club has also grown significantly over the past academic year, making it one of the university’s largest student organizations, according to Asthana.
Boston College’s Pro-Life Club saw immense growth in student involvement, which one member attributes to the overturning of Roe v. Wade. According to Asthana, member James Markis said the fall semester following Roe’s overturning saw attendance double.
“There was definitely a spike towards May of 2022,” Markis said, “because we all knew that Dobbs was going to be coming out that summer. When I came back in September of 2022, we doubled our attendance, with people just wanting to learn more about what was happening post-Roe.”
Asthana noted that pro-life students have also increasingly turned their efforts to focus on opposing the chemical abortion pill mifepristone.
Asthana noted that the annual Cardinal O’Conner Conference, the nation’s largest student-run pro-life conference, has also gained momentum by growing the pro-life movement in communities. Asthana reported that “[t]his conference has been ‘totally resurrected’ after 2021.”
She also spotlighted the growing presence of chapters of the Students for Life of America (SFLA) across the country. SFLA serves more than 1,500 campus groups and equips students with pro-life responses to pro-abortion arguments. Asthana said the organization works alongside campuses to help students join the “pro-life generation” through networking, social media graphics, and downloadable flyers.
Laila Saleem, whom Asthana described as an “abortion doula,” commented in the article that SFLA has a strong spot in their messaging.
“They have a canned response to every single pro-choice/pro-repro talking point,” Salaam said. “The fact that an organization like SFLA has even been able to start is really a testament to the aggressive way that they are pursuing students and creating a pro-life stronghold voice for themselves.”
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