December 13, 2021
Many people do not like politics, controversy, or talking to strangers—so what if I told you we combine all three of these on our Students for Life Action door knocking trips? Knocking on doors to educate about the abortion issue in elections can be both exhausting and intimidating, but we still do it.
We have knocked in extreme conditions like snowstorms in Minnesota and in the Arizona summer heat. We have met people who have been extremely rude and attacked us verbally for our position on abortion. Last year, I even spent my Thanksgiving and Christmas preparing for our largest door knocking trip ever in Atlanta, Georgia for the Senate runoff election. Our whole team gave so much of their time in order to recruit over 200 students with only a few months notice during a pandemic. SFLAction staff traveled hours—with some driving up to 12 hours—to bring students from as far away as Illinois and Texas on New Year’s Day, 2021.
You might be asking just what motivates us to do this?
The simple answer is: to rescue and protect babies.
First, controversy does come with the abortion issue. Killing babies is controversial in our culture today, but we believe that justice is worth the controversy. We believe that, by talking about abortion, we could change a heart or leave someone with the thought that there is help for unplanned pregnancies and that these lives are valuable.
Second, we knock on doors because it makes a difference. Knocking doors is statistically proven to be the best way to change the outcome of an election. It can be a little awkward talking to strangers, but laws save lives, and I will embrace awkwardness any day to save babies and their families from the violence of abortion.
We do not always win. In Georgia, the pro-abortion candidates won the election. Although this was disappointing, the trip could not have been more worthwhile. This trip was about a year into the pandemic when students were discouraged by their school administrations from meeting or doing any events and were isolated from their peers. But despite the pandemic, the violence of abortion continued.
During the trip, we hosted apologetics speakers who taught students how to talk about the dangers of abortion. Students joined our Students for Life Action staff in door knocking, which encouraged them to grow their roles in the pro-life movement. This trip taught students what they can accomplish by doing the work very few others do: going door-to-door, having the hard conversations most like to avoid. After all, if you can talk to strangers about politics and abortion at the front door of their homes, you can step out of your comfort zone on campus or in your community in other ways to save lives.
In our exit survey, students reported wanting to start/grow their own SFLA group, to be trained to sidewalk counsel regularly, to sign up for future door knocking opportunities, and to work for SFLA.
I have met several students that are now leaders at SFLA in fellowship roles that say their first experience with us was in Georgia. For example, one of our Regional Coordinators who now mentors students and grows SFLA groups, Hannah Wolfe, decided to apply for the role after joining our Georgia trip.
Georgia was not a special case. Recently, a student who had never been to a SFLA event joined our Virginia door knocking trip in October. She was inspired when she returned home, and she contacted us to start a new Campaign for Abortion Free Cities in Missouri.
Our door knocking trips are opportunities for students to grow in friendship, confidence, and experience in the pro-life movement.
The best thing about building good leaders is that they build other leaders. The students who we work to grow go on to work to grow other new leaders on their campus for life who will make their own unique impact.
The new year is almost upon us, and 2022 will bring opportunities for SFLAction door knocking trips! If you’re a student, I’d encourage you to keep your eye out for opportunities coming soon. If you’re a supporter, I hope you’ll consider making a gift to SFLAction or praying for us to make these door knocking trips possible and fruitful.
To donate to SFLAction and help us create more leaders while changing the culture, click HERE.