I recently spoke at an event hosted by the Students for Life club at the University of Jamestown. The purpose of the talk was to summarize national and state abortion statistics and laws, to explain who our organization is and what we and other organizations like us do to further the pro-life movement in North Dakota, and to give the students concrete ways to get involved in the political process. The talk went well and there were plenty of questions during the Q&A portion of the event.
However, my biggest take-away from the event was that I felt encouraged. Here was the next generation of parents, teachers, legislators, and other social leaders who felt passionate about the life issue. Here was a look at those who feel strongly about pro-life values nationally, and particularly in North Dakota.
As a Christian, it is easy to get discouraged with where our society is headed. We have elected an administration that is almost antithetically opposed to every value we hold dear. The media paints us out to be a lunatic fringe of homophobic gun toting “errors in the system” who need to be silenced at the least, and perhaps in the not-too-distant future, stamped out altogether. It is not a pretty picture.
We sometimes think we are insulated here in North Dakota from the machinations in DC. That is wrong. Just look at the Keystone pipeline and the current hatred of fossil fuels and you’ll see that Washington can reach us right where it hurts.
But there is hope. Yes, it’s true that the upcoming generation is not going to be the solution to all of our woes in North Dakota – they are not the silver bullet. However, Kristan Hawkins of Students for Life notes that, “Planned Parenthood only has 275 campus groups and Students for Life has 1,043. Additionally, [a recent Barna poll] found that only 17% of millennials hold the extreme view on abortion – that it should be legal at any time for any reason…”. That is encouraging.
So, what can we do? We can pave the way for this generation. Let’s make sure that laws are in place to support pro-life issues, and that the judicial system remains balanced and not populated by activist judges. We need to ensure that the next generation knows how to engage in the political process. They need to be prepared for the increasing adversarial environment in which they will need to function.
Let’s not turn over our country and our state to them in a broken condition. We have an obligation to give them the best start they can have to continue fighting for pro-life values!
For the next generation,
Mark Jorritsma
President & Executive Director