The other thing that disturbed me was that these people from SFLA (Students for Life of America, which AU Students for Life is a part of, I believe) had gone in undercover and lied about the circumstances this girl was in. That also seems wrong to me. I understand investigative reporting and doing things like this for journailstic stories, but I still don't think it is right. It kind of makes SFLA out to be some sort of rougue undercover policing body. Which AU SFL was not.
I doubt that AU SFL would have supported such an endeavor . We were pretty progressive in terms of what we did for the pro-life cause. We did not support GAP (Genocide Awareness Project) which shows photos of aborted babies on picket signs. I actually think that GAP is disrespectful to the lives of the babies who were killed as well as the mothers of those babies. The photos are disturbing and may bring out truth, but I don't think they need to be seen. It is bad taste, in the same way that showing murder victims in newspapers is in bad taste (and btw, not usually allowed in newspapers).
We supported Feminists for Life, we actually had one of their speakers come my senior year and talk on campus. Their slogan is “Women Deserve Better”. Which they do. So when we marched in the March for Life, we carried Feminist for Life signs that sais “Women Deserve Better than Abortion”. With the focus on preserving the women's rights and putting their well-being at the forefront of the debate, I think Feminists for Life manages to stay relevant in the world and doesn't alienate people.
As a group we also had someone from the gay pro-life, PLAGAL, group come and talk about how gays and lesbians should be pro-life because in the future, if they start to screeen children for diseases in-utero and abort ones with negative diseases or traits, it could very well mean that children who are said to be gay in the womb would be aborted. However, I wasn't able to attend this speaker, I think I had class.
We also held cordial debates with the AU Democrats group, the largest student group on campus. We debated the pro-life issue and kept it formal and fact-based. We didn't yell, scream, or say outright without information “You're Wrong!” I think I atteneded one of these, and it went very well. People on both sides were open to hear both sides of the debate.
We also helped out at the Capitol Hill Pregnancy Center. Various members volunteeted time there. We held “Diaper Drives” at the grocery store and asked all the rich Washingtonians shopping there on a Sunday afternoon every month to buy some diapers so that these girls who go to the pregnancy center would be able to afford keeping their baby. Diapers are expensive!! We had people who were pro-life come and applaud what we were doing. We had staunch pro-choice people buy diapers because they wanted to help the women who are from low-income neighborhoods in DC. We did have people say we were crazy and that we should do a condom drive with the diaper drive :). So we laughed about it then, and still laugh now. AU SFL stilll does diapers drives and keeps that pregnancy center stocked. That center is in NE DC, not the one nearer to AU because the GW Students for Life group worked with that one before AU SFL even started.
We also had a baby shower for the center and bought baby items that they needed, and some professors donated things to us, as well. We raised money tabling on the quad and in the student life center for this. We were able to get lots of things for the center, but unfortunately because of privacy issues, we couldn't pick a specific girl to have the shower for. Nor were we able to meet the people coming into the center unelss we had been through their counseling Anyhow, I don't think AU SFL would support what Stand True or SFLA did. I am not sure if I do, but it is disturbing. And maybe I need to start doing something to help the girls in my area who find themselves pregnant and scared and without support.
We in the church have been too quick to condemn those who get pregnant out of wedlock, but we need to love them just the same. One sin is a bad as another. I am not perfect, neither are they. Just my mistakes yesterday didn't lead to a child being born. Theirs did. Hah, we can cover up so much sin, we can cover up lots of things, but unfortunately, once a girl gets pregnant, then everyone points the finger and accuses, rather than loving.
So now I am praying, God, what do you want me to do about this, right here and now? Who do I need to be loving more? How should I go about doing that? As the prayer meeting I'm in grows, I think we will see lots of girls come in who have been hurt by men, whether they are pregnant or not, and they will be loved there and prayed for there. It will be a place of deliverance and freedom for them. I guess that's where I am at right now and where I must be working and moving for the time being.
Nice blog. Prayer is the key to success.
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