December 20, 2023
Any year in which Students for Life Action (SFLAction) is recognized as “the ground troops for life” by an incredible pro-life champion like Congresswoman Mary Miller (R-IL) or as “not playing nicely with the swamp” by a senior staffer at the Conservative Partnership Institute, is a good year indeed. Beyond these accolades, however, SFLAction did have an excellent, albeit busy, year when it came to major events and advocacy activities.
Below are some of the top advocacy events and highlights from 2023:
Defunding the University of Pittsburgh
Last primary season, SFLAction engaged in the districts of three Pennsylvania incumbents who were all subsequently voted out of office by pro-lifers. We made it known to their constituents that they had voted incorrectly on a 2022 budget amendment that would have stripped the University of Pittsburgh (UPitt) from receiving state funding until the school ended their barbaric practice of fetal research on aborted babies. During our engagement in this legislative battle, one state legislator noted SFLAction was “the only pro-life group that actually does anything” in Pennsylvania.
We continued to mobilize on the issue of stopping UPitt‘s gruesome research through phone calls, text messages and door knocking, highlighting how the university was still conducting unethical “experiments” with the remains of aborted babies.
Because of these activities and our efforts defeating their colleagues in the primaries, budget leaders have been unable to garner the votes necessary to grant the state university continued funding. Right now, it remains without state support with no further attempts to give the institution funding in sight.
Rallied Around America to Raise Awareness About Late Term Abortion
In cities across the nation in mid-October, SFLAction team members and volunteers gathered to raise awareness of later-term abortions. Rallies were held, as overpass activism and banner and sign waving occurred in numerous states. These events were also used as a National Call Night to contact voters in Ohio encouraging them to VOTE NO on Issue 1.
Elsewhere, in our nation’s Capital, we co-hosted a panel event with The Abortion Survivors Network and Senator Roger Marshall (R-KS) to discuss the reality of later-term abortion and to garner support and raise awareness about the Born Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act
Defeating the ERA — Again
This past spring, SFLAction also combatted the deadly and discriminatory Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) or as we like to call it, the “Everything Related to Abortion Act.” With our efforts through our lobby day educating members of Congress on the ERA, as well as our program urging their constituents to contact their federal representatives, the ERA thankfully failed to pass.
If the ERA were to pass, it would have allowed abortion through all nine months with no exceptions, mandate taxpayer-funded abortions, and take away the definition of a woman, hurting everything from women’s sports to women’s bathrooms.
READ: SFLAction Issues Scoring Alert on Equal Rights Amendment
Standing Firm with Senator Tuberville in Defense of Innocent Military Family members
In the past few months, SFLAction has led the charge supporting and defending Alabama Senator Tommy Tuberville’s principled stance to end the taxpayer facilitation of abortion currently occurring through the Department of Defense.
SFLAction also scored the vote, noting that “there is not even a fig leaf offering meager covering for this deadly policy. It does not provide funds for travel for military personnel of their choosing. The Biden Administrations choice is travel abortion only to end the lives of the most vulnerable in our military family, the preborn.”
Unfortunately, throughout the process, Senator Tuberville has faced stiff opposition, sometimes from those even within his own party.
READ: Joe Bidens Favorite Republicans are Fighting Against Students for Life’s Favorite Republicans
Our support for Senator Tuberville has included:
- Honoring him with a Champion of Life Award.
- Gathering veteran statements of support in a Veterans for Tuberville Coalition as part of an extensive online campaign
- Arranging numerous Thank You messages to the Senator for his efforts.
- Engaging in grassroots mobilization campaigns to encourage voters to contact members of the Senate, calling on them to stand with Tuberville on this issue.
- Rallying in Alaska to highlight to the local and national pro-life community that Senator Sullivan is standing with the Biden Administration and abortion facilitation instead of with the pro-life movement and Tuberville.
- Announcing we will score any votes taken to stop Tuberville’s efforts until the Hyde Amendments protections are restored to the smallest members of military families.
As a result, many national groups joined us in defending Tuberville, and 27 Republican Senators recently published a letter (including three who had previously denounced him) in declaration of their support for Tuberville. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell indicated the Republican caucus would continue to oppose the Biden Administration’s pro-abortion policy with Tuberville.
Even though most of his holds are now finished, he continues to stand firm against the appointments of four-star generals or similar level appointments.
READ: Don’t Look Now: The Republican Senate Appears to be Taking Senator Tuberville’s Side
Making Known Our Opposition to Laws Supporting more than 9 in 10 Abortions
Most recently, SFLAction has engaged hundreds of our top student leaders to record videos for social media reaching out to U.S. Senators to urge them to do better than legislation that allows abortion up to almost 4 months — the 15-Week Abortion Prevention Act. This legislation would allow more than 9 out of 10 of all abortions, SFLAction advocates Heartbeat or better, asking members of Congress to recognize that a Heartbeat Abortion Prevention Act would save far more lives and make meaningful, lasting change, rather than settling for abortion laws more liberal than much of Europe.
According to polling conducted by our Demetree Institute of Pro Life Advancement, Heartbeat protections and 15-week limitations poll equally as well with young voters and members of the general public. Consequently, why would we ever settle for anything less than a Heartbeat standard?
READ: Washington Post Fact Check: No, 15 Weeks Didn’t Win in Virginia – But Life at Conception Did
In our nation’s Capital, we were also extremely active in our outreach efforts. In 2023, we:
- Conducted six Lobby Days, where students and team members met with national leaders and staff from more than 110 offices.
- Hosted a Paid Family Leave Luncheon for outreach to Hill staffers.
- Brought more than 60 Hill staffers from 45 plus separate offices for a briefing on the necessity and logistics of Chemical Abortion restrictions.
- Participated in major press conferences on Capital Hill, including with Concerned Women for America on the ERA, and with new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson on the need to remove the FACE Act.
Lastly, but certainly not least, we also made the announcement earlier this year of our goal to be on every traditional, public university and college campus in the United States within the next five years.