June 24, 2022
“The injustice of Roe has finally come to an end, and the momentum to protect life in law is finally on the side of innocent preborn children and their mothers who deserve our help,” said Students for Life President Kristan Hawkins. “Roe v. Wade has been a cancer growing in our Constitution resulting in more than 63 million deaths. Today, the court has cut it out, and that’s a win. Now we get back to building up a health society, affirming life for women and their children, born and preborn.”
Held: The Constitution does not confer a right to abortion; Roe and Casey are overruled; and the authority to regulate abortion is returned to the people and their elected representatives.
CLICK HERE TO WATCH a special video from Hawkins and pro-life student leaders at Jackson, Mississippi’s “Pink House” abortion vendor and at Supreme Court explaining where we go from here.
MEDIA ADVISORY: This Saturday, LIFE IS LOUDER events to take place at state capitols across the country, as the issue of abortion moves from a handful of judges in Washington D.C. to the states. Click here to learn more.
WASHINGTON D.C. (06-24-2022) – Students for Life Action President Kristan Hawkins said that today’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson in which Roe v. Wade was reviewed, reversed, and the issue of abortion is returned to the states was one that few people believed possible when she launched Students for Life of America more than 16 years ago. “Today’s decision is a historic moment that will determine the fate of millions of precious children. For nearly 50 years, the pro-life movement has labored in love as we’ve refused to give up on women and their children – born and preborn,” said Hawkins. “Now, it’s time to get to work. This weekend, for example, Students for Life Action is hosting dozens of state legislators and student leaders in our nation’s capital for national training, preparing these leaders for the state legislative sessions to come. We are ready to protect life in law and in service.”
As Students for Life has previously reported, the Pro-Life, now Post-Roe, Generation has been working toward this historic day in the Dobbs case for months:
- Filed an amicus brief with Human Coalition Action detailing that Roe is “egregiously wrong,” has harmed women and minority communities, and is pushed on women who don’t need abortion to thrive.
- Launched a “See Me Now Ultrasound Live Bus Tour,” endorsed by Mississippi Attorney General Fitch, that began in Jackson, MS, and ended at the Supreme Court.
- Worked with the MS AG’s office on events at the Supreme Court along with a Watch Party in Jackson, MS.
- Engaged in numerous live events detailing plans for a Post-Roe America, along with leading pro-life activists and office holders.
- Championed a post-Roe strategy of protecting life in service and in law, as noted this week in USA Today.
“Our generation believes in what we’re doing. We’re pro-life,” said MS Attorney General Lynn Fitch on Kristan Hawkins’ Explicitly Pro-Life Podcast. “It’s such an exciting time. This is definitely the biggest case… probably of my lifetime, and certainly the biggest pro-life case that we’ve had in 50 years.”
WHAT’S NEXT: “Students for Life Action kept our political operation in shape since the last election as we’ve been door knocking in key cities to educate Americans on the non-violent services for pregnant and parenting women near them. This effort, called the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities, consists of regularly neighborhood door knocking, digital and grassroots marketing, and campus and church organizing and will continue. This decision means it’s time to pivot back to passing pro-life laws and electing pro-life leaders,” said Hawkins. “Mississippi was smart to use a 15-week limit to trigger a confrontation with Roe, but that was a tactic, not a goal. We must address early abortion because that is when most abortions take place.”
In her op-ed at Newsweek titled Forget the Kids’ Menu: The Pro-Life Movement Wants Real Policy Engagement, Hawkins observed, “More than 9 in 10 abortions take place in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, which is why the pro-life generation advocates first for policies that place substantive limits on abortion, such as life at conception bills, heartbeat legislation and strict regulation of chemical abortion pills that can leave women injured, infertile or even dead, along with their preborn children. SFLAction also outlined the need for addressing early abortion in a letter to Congress, reported here in the Washington Post.
“Other policy proposals out there offer education and advancement on related issues, but the current political climate allows us to focus on the legislation we care about most. If we don’t fight now for a future in which abortion is unthinkable and unavailable, we will never end the human rights atrocity that has cost more than 63 million lives.”
Polling indicates that people are ready for a voice and a vote on abortion.
From SFLA’s website: “Limiting abortion policy choices to the few desired by those in power is not popular with Millennials and Gen Z, now about one-third of the electorate. Recent polling by Students for Life of America’s Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement indicates that ‘an astonishing 8 in 10 want to vote on abortion policy in their states – UP from 66% last year.’ In addition, ‘(w)hen considering how devalued people have been treated historically by those in power, 65% of Millennials and Gen Z did not support allowing people in power to decide who is fully human and deserving of legal rights.’”
SFLAction and the SCOTUS SQUAD has been a fixture at the Supreme Court on decision days and in protest during court-related events. Click here to see an ABC Nightline segment about the team that was present today.
For interviews, contact Kristi Hamrick at [email protected] or [email protected]
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Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), make up the nation’s largest pro-life youth organization and a political and policy operation engaging people of all ages. Together they work to end abortion — the human rights issue of our day — and provide political, legal, and community support for women and their children, born and preborn. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA has more than 1,250 groups on middle, high school, college, university, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. SFLA creates strategy, policy, and programming to connect those most targeted for abortion with people ready to help and builds a framework for political engagement on their behalf. SFLA and SFLAction have more conversations with those most targeted by the abortion industry than any other pro-life outreach in the world, reaching more than 2 million people across social media platforms each week and engaging in approximately 100,000 digital conversations per month. Over more than 15 years, President Kristan Hawkins has grown SFLAction/SFLA into an $18 million organization preparing for a post-Roe America.