June 29, 2021
“Students for Life Group of the Year winners and nominees for the 2020-2021 school year showed incredible resilience, proving that The Future Is Anti-Abortion,” said Kristan Hawkins, President of SFLA/SFLAction. “We could not be more grateful for the opportunity to train, mentor, and support these students as they continue their work to abolish abortion.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. (06-29-2021) – During a ceremony at the National Leaders Collective on Saturday, Students for Life of America (SFLA) announced its 2020-2021 Group of the Year award winners.
Students for Life High School Group of the Year nominees included Prolife Eagles at Heritage High School; Richmond Students for Life; and Del Norte Students for Life. This award went to Richmond Students for Life, whose activism in the 2020-2021 school year included participating in multiple overnight and day-long canvassing deployments to support pro-life policy and voting, participating in the Pro-Life Future door-knocking campaign to raise community awareness of pro-life resources, and numerous other public policy and pro-life engagement endeavors.
Students for Life College Group of the Year nominees were Regent University Students for Life; Marian University Knights for Life; and West Kentucky University Students for Life. The award went to Marian University. In addition to hosting regular student meetings and organizing frequent trips to the local abortion facility for peaceful prayer demonstrations, Marian University Knights for Life launched a Standing With You Initiative on campus to help support pregnant and parenting students’ Title IX rights. The group also hosted experts in various fields to present to students on campus and individuals who shared how they were personally impacted by pro-life outreach. One of the group’s events, Ending the Cycle of Violence: The Pro-Life Response to Rape included speakers Dr. Donna Harrison and Julia Deluce, as well as representation from The Hope Center and O’Connor House. Despite attempted censorship by a faculty member, this event was a well-received and a huge success. Through numerous pro-life displays and tabling initiatives on campus, the group engaged other students, and even participated in Pro-Life Future door-knocking to raise community awareness about local resources for women and families.
SFLA awarded the New Students for Life Group of the Year to Future Medical Professionals at University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine. Within one semester of launching, Future Medical Professionals for Life has helped with the Pro-Life Future Campaign in Richmond, door knocking on over 1,000 doors in a single day. The students hosted pro-life experts, worked with their local Pregnancy Resource Center, and hosted multiple tabling events to discuss when human rights begin on campus. Although the group faced vandalization, they were undeterred from changing hearts and minds and hopes to help other local universities start similar pro-life student groups.
“To succeed on their campuses, this year’s group of the Year Winners and nominees had to work around challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action. “Additionally, with academic institutions becoming hotbeds of hostility and censorship toward the Pro-Life Generation, many Students for Life groups faced harassment, First Amendment violations, and active opposition from fellow students, staff, and faculty at their schools this school year. Students for Life Group of the Year winners (and nominees) for the 2020-2021 school year showed incredible resilience, proving that The Future Is Anti-Abortion. We could not be more grateful for the opportunity to train, mentor, and support them as they continue their work to abolish abortion.”
For more on SFLA and the Pro-Life Generation, visit studentsforlife.org
For interviews, contact Lauren Enriquez at [email protected]
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Students for Life Action (SFLAction) is the 501c4 sister organization of Students for Life of America (SFLA), the nation’s largest, pro-life, student organization with more than 1,240 groups on middle, high school, and university campuses in all 50 states. Students for Life has more conversations with those most targeted by the abortion industry every day, week, and year than any other pro-life outreach in the world and mobilizes the Pro-Life Generation to confront abortion at the local, state and national levels daily. Every week, Students for Life entities reach more than 2 million people across social media platforms to have nearly 200,000 digital conversations with the most engaged pro-life online audience in the world.
Students for Life of America (SFLA) is the nation’s largest, pro-life, youth organization. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA serves more than 1,240 groups on college and university, middle and high school, medical and law school campuses in all 50 states. Student pro-life organizations work to confront policies on their campuses to support pregnant and parenting students, to end Planned Parenthood’s relationships with schools and communities, and to change minds of their peers about abortion. SFLA has more conversations with those most targeted by the abortion industry every day, week, and year than any other pro-life entity.