APS is all about student pro-life societies. We aim to build, support and connect student pro-life groups up and down the country. But of course, this isn’t all down to us – we can’t just go into a university and decide to set up a group. It is students on the ground, studying at (a particular) university, who make the decision that they want to help spread the pro-life voice on their campus.
As students and recent graduates who have been through these experiences ourselves, APS can give students advice, as well as connecting them to like-minded people. But we can’t do this on our own… first, we need leaders!
Why should a student take such a step? We all know that the pro-life viewpoint can be unpopular, especially at university, and setting up a group purely to promote it, when you have a degree, perhaps a job, and goodness knows what else to do, may not seem like the best plan. However, we at APS firmly believe that not only is it a good idea, it is essential.
Here are our top five reasons to consider setting up a Pro-Life Society at your university…
- You could save a life.
When a student falls pregnant at university, abortion may seem like the only option. You might be the only voice on campus offering positive alternatives. In 2014, 69129 abortions were carried out on women aged 18-24 – university age. Although many universities offer help and support to student parents, the prevailing view in society is that it’s impossible to combine parenting and studying; many women therefore feel pressured into abortion. While no one expects you to become crisis pregnancy advisors, or provide material support yourself, you can make students aware of the help that is out there. You can find out what your university’s provision for student parents is, and spread that knowledge. If you feel like more could be done, propose a motion in your Student Union (check out this blog on doing just that!) You can create or distribute leaflets with the contact details of the national pro-life organisations that offer help, or find out about your local crisis pregnancy centre. You might never know it, but just handing out a leaflet could save a life!
2) You can be an official voice
People are often convinced about being pro-life on campus, but less so about the need for an official society. Isn’t it enough to be pro-life yourself, and maybe hand out some leaflets, perhaps with another group? While these are good things, and may be what you do to begin with, it is really worth becoming an union recognised society. Once you have been approved, your group has a status, officially recognised just like any other society. It gives you a legitimacy, and shows that you are as worthy of being listened to as anyone else. This is especially pertinent when free speech in general, and specifically the pro-life voice, is being censored on campuses. Just by being on the list of societies, which all students will look at at least once, is making a stand. It also gives you access to union rooms, advice, and funding!
3) You are best placed to educate your peers
Universities are hubs for intellectual debate, and it is often within universities that the very ideas that oppose life take root. Your university peers will be influential decision-makers in the world of tomorrow- the doctors, lawyers, politicians, parents…You may never have a chance like this again to change hearts and minds. You are also the best placed to do it. Let’s face it, the typical student isn’t likely to wander into a talk by another pro-life organisation (and they are increasingly being banned from campuses). You are able to talk about issues such as the development of the baby in the womb, the arguments against euthanasia and so on with fellow students, and you have access to the means of advertising your events to them.
4) You might learn something.
Just as this is the best time of your life to spread the pro-life message to others, it is also the perfect time to educate yourself! University is an incredible opportunity to develop your own knowledge of pro-life issues and the pro-life movement. When else are you going to be so free to attend conferences, put on and attend talks by eminent speakers, and confirm your own opinions? University is the best time to do all this, with a supportive peer group to learn alongside you.
5) On that point…
Being part of or setting up a pro-life society provides you with a group of people (who often become close friends!) who share your views on life issues. University can at first be a bewildering experience for the best of us, and finding that you hold a minority viewpoint in an increasingly hostile environment can prove to be very isolating. Sure, you COULD just do your own thing and be pro-life by yourself, but we cannot emphasise enough the difference having a group of people who share your views makes. After all, the need to connect pro-life students is one of the main reasons students came together to found APS!
These are just a few of the reasons why you should set up a pro-life society- there are many more! If you’re even vaguely convinced, please do check out our start a group page, and get in touch.
Top 5 reasons why you should start a pro-life student society
As you know, student pro-life societies are what APS does. Our unique mission is to build university pro-life societies in England, Scotland and Wales that have a lasting and profound respect for human life from fertilisation to natural death. Part of that work is supporting the societies that already exist, and we always love to share what all our wonderful groups are getting up to. But, of course, we want there to be more! So far there are 12 active societies, out of over 300 universities. And that’s just not good enough. Wouldn’t it be amazing if we had a pro-life presence at EVERY university? Think of the difference that would make! So, whether you’re a student yourself, or find yourself meeting them and not quite knowing how to sell the idea, without further ado, here’s my top 5 reasons why starting a student pro-life society is a brilliant plan.
- University is a key place where people form their views.
Universities are, or should be, hubs for intellectual debate. Students, most leaving home for the first time, encounter all sorts of ideas and views that they have never come across before. From the first days at the Freshers’ Fayre, they are surrounded by hundreds of groups advocating hundreds of causes. The pro-choice mentality is often firmly ingrained; it’s the status quo. Students unions are often officially pro-choice, or affiliated to Abortion Rights, sexual health services offer abortion as a matter of course, feminist groups often campaign widely for even greater access to abortion. It is vital that students also get the chance to hear the pro-life message. Students at a university can reach places that the traditional pro-life groups can’t. If you don’t educate your peers on the facts about abortion, euthanasia and embryo research, who will?
Which brings me on to my second point…
- Students are ignorant
I hate to say it, but it’s so. Those of us who have been brought up with the knowledge of the development of babies in the womb and other facts, sometimes find it hard to appreciate how little the average student knows about these issues. I once had a friend look at my little feet badge (the one with the baby’s feet at 10 weeks) and say “I didn’t know they had feet at that stage”. And there is so much you can share. Did you know that 92% of babies with Down’s Syndrome are aborted? That abortion is legal up until birth for disability? That the baby’s heart starts beating at twenty-one days? I didn’t know all of those things before I joined Cardiff SFL. If we pro-lifers don’t know these facts, how can we expect anyone else to? In a university setting you have more chances than at any other time of your life to share the pro-life message.
- Students are at great risk from abortion
The student demographic is very vulnerable. In 2013, 71,370 abortions were carried out on women aged 18-24. An article from Kingston university said that a student was referred for an abortion every single day. If we add that to our own experience of university (how many pregnant students/student parents have you ever known?) and the scale of the problem is huge.
