October 9, 2026
Students for Life Action’s “Democrats Love Late Term Abortion” Campaign Brought the Pro-Life Generation to Grand Rapids
While Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed faced off in their October 8 U.S. Senate debate in Grand Rapids, Students for Life Action (SFLAction) activists took their pro-life message directly to voters outside the event, challenging El-Sayed’s abortion positions and reminding Michiganders that the right to life was on the ballot.
Led on the ground by Students for Life of America (SFLA) Regional Coordinator Josh Janda, the demonstration was part of our “Democrats Love Late Term Abortion” campaign, which challenges Democrat candidates’ abortion positions and encourages voters to prioritize the protection of preborn children.
When Janda arrived outside the debate venue, nearly 100 El-Sayed supporters had surrounded SFLA students. El-Sayed supporters appeared fiendishly motivated by the candidate’s lofty promises of universal health care and relief from rising everyday costs.
Despite being vastly outnumbered, the students proudly delivered their message to the opposition: “If your health care kills another human being, you are doing it wrong.”
Our activists also challenged Democrat efforts to repeal the Hyde Amendment, a longstanding restriction on federal Medicaid funding for most abortions.
El-Sayed’s Abortion Positions Were Front and Center
As we highlighted ahead of the debate, El-Sayed’s record raised serious concerns for pro-life voters:
El-Sayed wants Roe restored nationwide. He said he would codify the abortion protections formerly provided by Roe v. Wade into federal law.
He is firmly aligned with Planned Parenthood. The Planned Parenthood Action Fund endorsed him, citing his record of supporting expanded access to abortion and related services.
He treats the preborn child as secondary. describing abortion restrictions as reducing a mother to a “carrying vehicle for a fetus that has not ever breathed air.”
His rhetoric dehumanizes both the mother and her preborn child. He describes pregnant women as an “adult, or sometimes even a juvenile human,” while referring to the preborn child as a fetus.
He would expand abortion access, not merely preserve it. Major abortion-rights organizations such as Reproductive Freedom for All backing him explicitly describe their objective as protecting and expanding abortion access and view El-Sayed as an ally toward that goal.
Changing Hearts and Minds, One Conversation at a Time
As the evening progressed and the crowd thinned, the team engaged attendees in conversations about abortion, human rights, and the responsibilities of elected officials. One man arrived hoping to see the candidates enter the venue and demanded to know why our activists were demonstrating.
Janda responded that our mission is to challenge El-Sayed’s abortion positions and encourage voters to consider the humanity of preborn children. Although the man expressed personal opposition to abortion, he questioned whether the government should interfere with a woman’s decisions about pregnancy.
Undeterred by the man’s challenge, Janda asked him to consider a fundamental question: “If preborn children were recognized as human beings, shouldn’t their right to life receive the same protection as everyone else’s?” Their discussion focused on the right to life as the foundation of other human liberties.
Other conversations gave SFLA activists opportunities to explain our pro-life mission. By nightfall, the team had made the humanity of preborn children central to many conversations surrounding Michigan’s Senate election.
Building on Our Michigan Pro-Life Momentum
The demonstration continued our grassroots work in Michigan. Our “Get Out the Pro-Life Vote Billboard Truck Tour” stopped at the University of Michigan-Dearborn, Wayne State University, Grand Rapids, and Grand Valley State University. Through campus outreach, community flyering, billboard displays, and a screening of Unplanned, students spread the pro-life message and encouraged voter participation ahead of the November elections.
In 2022, SFLAction opposed Proposal 3, which enshrined abortion protections in the state constitution. That election cycle, SFLAction also reached 40,078 Michigan voters through calls and texts during the primary elections.
These efforts depended on generous supporters who equipped student activists to show up, speak out, and challenge abortion extremism where voters were paying attention.
“It Shouldn’t Be This Hard”
El-Sayed built his campaign around the slogan, “It shouldn’t be this hard.” Our activists left Grand Rapids with a different interpretation: It should not be this hard to recognize the humanity of preborn children, defend their right to life, or reject abortion extremism.
Our “Democrats Love Late Term Abortion” Campaign continued that fight. Every contribution helped make demonstrations like the one in Grand Rapids possible by providing student activists with resources to reach voters and carry our message into communities nationwide. With supporters standing behind the Pro-Life Generation, we continued our mission to end abortion in our lifetime.