Students for Life travel to D.C. for March for Life and Pro-Life Summit

Students for Life, a pro-life club at Lee University, drove to Washington D.C. on the night of Jan 18 for the annual March for Life and Pro-Life Summit training event. Members of the club returned on Jan. 21 after hearing from guest speakers, listening to educational panels, and marching around the nation’s capital in the snow.

For members of Students for Life, the March for Life event was an opportunity to join in a community of people empowered by a common cause.

“We’re kind of in our own little, small communities and sometimes you can feel like, ‘Oh, we’re not doing that much of a difference, or making that much of a difference,’ but I think it’s really empowering … and kind of hypes you up because you’re hearing these stories,” said senior nursing major Brooklyn Dobyns about the march. Dobyns said that the march was an empowering experience for her and hearing testimonies from others acted as motivation to keep putting her time and effort into the pro-life cause.

“Realizing that you have people behind you and people that are standing with you – and it’s just a tangible way to see all of those people in one place, because they’re always there, but seeing us all come together is just a visual of how important it is,” said Hannah Hitchcock, a junior nursing major and the co-president of Students for Life.

For Samuel Bowers, a freshman pastoral ministry major, the march was an opportunity to see men having a voice in the pro-life movement.

“Most of my life [I’ve] been told to stay out of it. And so I think it was cool to see other guys there … and women who were accepting of men being a part of it. That kind of left the impact like, ‘Okay, I can actually be involved in this. I can help out with it,’” Bowers said.

Dr. Samantha Spinks, an assistant professor in the School of Nursing and club sponsor for Students for Life, said many parts of the March for Life event were educational.

“What I loved about it was that they talked about not only supporting women through the pregnancy but being there to support them after the pregnancy and getting resources for them,” Spinks said.

Bowers recalls the event was different from what he expected in terms of what kind of people he thought would attend.

“Pro-life is typically Republican or Conservative, typically it’s that side, but there were Democrats there in the movement. There were Christians and non-Christians, and the Christians that were there were from hundreds of different faith backgrounds, so it was cool to see all of those things that typically separate people, coming together for a thing that was just the preservation of life,” Bowers said

“As Christians, we’re called to serve and to care for people that are in need,” Dr. Spinks said. “We have a duty to care for others. And regardless of one’s stance on pro-life or pro-choice, it’s crucial to be well-informed and educated about such politically charged topics.”

Students for Life at the March for Life. Photo by sophomore music and worship major, Jasmine Medlock.

Beyond the actual march itself, the March for Life event featured a rally and the Summit featured a number of individuals who shared their stories and information on abortion.

March for Life is an annual gathering of pro-lifers from across the country that come together for a common cause. According to Marchforlife.org, the march is a peaceful rally that begins at the National Mall and ends on Capitol Hill. The national March for Life is held in January to remember the Supreme Court ruling of Roe vs. Wade in 1973. The ruling legalized abortion in all fifty states.

In June of 2022, Roe vs. Wade was overruled in the Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization case. The case, according to Oyez.org, concluded that the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion and decisions on abortion policies would be left to the states.

Marchers unite at the March for Life in D.C. Photo by Jasmine Medlock.

The Pro-Life Summit, according to their website, is an event that occurs the day after the March for Life and features multiple speakers hosted by Students for Life of America. The Summit is specifically geared towards high school and college students.

“During the rally, they bring on different senators and congressmen and people who are actually on the front lines making the policies that are really affecting the course of our country and how it’s gonna go. And I think it’s cool to be able to show them our support with our numbers,” Dobyns said.

Thousands of pro-lifers marched through the snow on January 20, a move pro-lifers believe shows their will and determination toward change on a state and national level.

“It’s a good visual representation of how serious we are about it and how much this cause actually means to us and being in the capital is a testament of. We want to change policy and we want our politicians in our government to know that we’re serious about this and that we will come together and stand for it and we’ll continue to stand for it,” Hitchcock said.

Mike Pence speaks at Pro-Life Summit. Photo by Jasmine Medlock.

As the march was taking place, a piece of legislation called the Pregnant Student’s Rights Act was introduced and passed by the House of Representatives. According to the Congressional Research Service, the act would require schools that receive federal funding to provide the following information to pregnant students:

a list of community and on-campus resources that exist to help a pregnant student in carrying the baby to term and caring for the baby after birth,
information about the accommodations available to help a pregnant student carry the baby to term and parent the baby after birth, and
information on how to file a discrimination complaint related to the student's determination to carry a baby to term.

The bill passed in the House of Representatives on Jan. 18, was read for the second time in the Senate on January 23 but as of this article’s deadline the bill had not been voted on in the Senate.

Singer Danny Gokey performs at the March for Life rally. Photo by Jasmine Medlock.

This is the second year Lee’s chapter of Students of Life has attended the march and summit conference events and they hope to make it an annual activity in the club. Students do not have to be a part of Students for Life to go on the trip in the future, but will need to participate in club fundraising to cover trip costs. Students for Life at Lee meet on the first Thursday of the month and members volunteer weekly at New Hope Pregnancy Care Center in Cleveland. Dobyns said the club’s mission is to spread the word about what abortion is and how it affects people and their surrounding communities.

To learn more about Lee’s chapter of Students for Life email studentsforlife@leeuniversity.edu. Visit March for Life or Pro-Life Summit for more information regarding both events. For more information concerning the Pregnant Students’ Rights Act visit Congresses’ website.