January 8, 2025
Marc Orlando is the Effective Education Director of Miami University’s Students for Life in Ohio and a William Wilburforce Fellowship.
As a part of my fellowship project with the National Leaders Collective (NLC), I took a new and improved approach to canvassing for Life at Miami University in Ohio.
This effort came at another tense time in American politics. This year, I focused more on federal politics and the presidential election than state politics.
Last year, a deceptively titled bill called H.R. 12, the Women’s Health Protection Act, came across my radar. I decided to do further research and discovered how big of a threat to the preborn this would be if passed. I was happy I decided to start researching it. This bill, if passed, would have allowed abortion through all nine months for any reason and removed ANY restrictions on abortion.
READ: Later, Loser: The Women’s Health “Protection” Act Fails in the Senate
I wanted to spread the dangers of this bill before the November election so young college voters would be forced to think deeply about the candidate’s positions on abortion. With the help of Students for Life of America (SFLA), I created Civiclick, a website that allows voters to reach out to legislators and ask them to vote a certain way on a bill. Voters can also print out QR codes that would be slid underneath the doors on campus.
I had done something similar before but was back for round two. This time, I had help.
While last year’s canvassing initiative was solely mine, I was fortunate enough to start this process early enough to receive help from my group members. With their assistance, we canvassed over twice as many dorms as I did by myself last year, jumping from 12 dorms to 25. With a conservative estimate, we would spread information about H.R. 12 to over 7,000 students before the election!
While it may not have reached my initial goal of canvassing in every dorm, it is still a marked improvement from last year, both in the management and the execution. It is essential for all leaders, but especially those in the pro-life movement, to recognize success in a multitude of ways. For example, I technically “failed” at accomplishing my initial goal of canvassing in every dorm. Instead, I believe the event was successful because we spread the word about H.R. 12 more effectively than before by using our experience to create a more significant outcome this time. This is good, as it indicates that we will improve each time we hold this event.
That being said, I’m proud of our group’s accomplishments and look forward to applying this experience to our next canvassing experience.
