. . . because action speaks louder than words.
League history, NOW v. Scheidler, Action News, Joe Scheidler, League staff
Q & A on abortion, the unborn child, where we stand on the issues and more
Helping abortion-bound women choose life for their babies
Unmasking the truth about abortion in the public square
Our youth outreach, raising up a new generation of pro-life leaders
Abortion industry converts tell the inside story
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
You are currently browsing the archives for the Youth Outreach category.
Josh Brahm talks to teens about pro-life apologetics [Photo by Sam Scheidler]
“Phenomenal!” “Absolutely fantastic!” “I loved it!”
These are just some of the comments that sum up the reaction of the more than 140 teens and adults who attended TeenSpeak 2012, the youth program of SpeakOut Illinois, held on January 28 at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois. That’s the largest crowd we’ve ever had at a TeenSpeak conference!
The day began with an engaging and enthusiastic talk entitled “Making Abortion Unthinkable: The Art of Pro-Life Persuasion,” by Right to Life of Central California’s Josh Brahm. Drawing from his experience as one of few pro-life speakers who has formally debated leaders from “pro-choice” organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL, Josh emphasized the need to “focus like a laser beam” on the humanity of the unborn child when talking with someone who sees nothing wrong with abortion.
The audience loved Josh’s talk. High school student Sadie Huddleston remarked, “It was so informative! This talk truly brought out the issue of abortion and clearly informed me of ways to approach and how to answer pro-choicers.” [Continue reading ...]
Eric Scheidler speaks on activism at the International Pro-Life Youth Conference, Nov. 12 [Photo by Dave Bathon]
This past weekend I traveled to Los Angeles for the first ever International Pro-Life Youth Conference to join a cast of fantastic speakers and 300 of the most enthusiastic young pro-lifers I’ve ever seen.
The conference was expertly organized by Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust and cosponsored by several other pro-life groups, including the League, which provided copies of our Sharing the Pro-Life Message handbook to all attendees. Rev. Pat Mahoney of the Christian Defense Coalition did an extraordinary job as Master of Ceremonies.
My contribution to the conference was a new PowerPoint presentation on conducting successful events entitled, “10 Keys to Effective Pro-Life Action,” which drew on my years as an activist. These keys included such advice as “Devise your battle plan,” “Cooperate with police” and “Take care of volunteers.” [Continue reading ...]
The pro-life Carney brothers
This has got to be about the most creative—and inspiring—pro-life fundraiser I’ve ever seen. Last week, the four Carney brothers—Jack (9), Joey (7), Michael (5) and Christopher (3)—decided to pool their Halloween candy and see if they could raise some money to help the Pro-Life Action League save babies and their mothers from abortion.
To set their creative plan in motion, the two oldest, Jack and Joey, went with their Dad, Chris, to his office in downtown Chicago. They gave away their candy to people at the train station and at the office, accepting donations for the League. In all, they raised $368.98!
The Carney Family at the 2010 Face the Truth Tour in Lake Zurich, IL
What’s especially touching about the boys’ contribution to the League’s effort is that they’re all experienced pro-life activists. They’ve joined the League’s Face the Truth Tours in the past, along with their parents and sisters—a great pro-life family!
The Carney Brothers hope other pro-life kids will take up their idea next year. I hope so, too—because that’s what the Pro-Life Action League is all about: finding dynamic ways to fight abortion, and then empowering others to join the effort.
Chris and his wife Millie must be very proud of their sons. So am I!
Two of the most exciting things going on the pro-life movement right now are:
These two dynamic forces are coming together next week at the first-ever International Pro-Life Youth Conference, November 11-13 in Los Angeles.
The conference is being hosted by Survivors, Ireland’s Youth Defence and Students for Life, with the sponsorship of such cutting-edge pro-life groups as Live Action, Stand True Ministries, Human Life Alliance—and of course, the Pro-Life Action League.
I’m proud to be one of the speakers at the IPLY Conference, along with such pro-life “rock stars” as:
Student registration is a mere $35 for the whole weekend, but registration closes November 9—so act now if you want to attend. You can get more information here or go straight to the registration page here.
This historic conference will motivate, educate and equip pro-life youth to end abortion in their lifetimes. It is not to be missed!
Eric speaks in Anneville, PA Oct 14 [Photo by Henri Lively]
Last week I was honored to join the Defend Life Speaking Tour—the longest running pro-life speaking tour in the nation—at the invitation of stalwart pro-life activist Jack Ames. Jack is famous for putting his speakers to work, and Jack managed to line up 5 talks for me in just two days.
I arrived the morning of Thursday, October 13 and was picked up at the airport by Fran Griffin, who helped Jack arrange my speaking engagements. After lunch with some of the pro-life leaders of northern Virginia, we drove to Seton School in Manassas, founded by Catholic historian Anne Carroll, whose late husband Warren founded Christendom College.
I addressed the all-school assembly about how they can help restore a culture of life. After a brief overview of the humanity of the unborn child and the key facts about abortion, I explored how Catholics like them are called in a special way to actively fight against abortion. [Continue reading ...]
Note: This is the third of Eric Scheidler’s four reports on his pro-life mission to Germany and Austria. The first covers the March for Life in Berlin September 17. The second details his time with the German Youth for Life September 17-18.
Eric at Hohensalzburg Fortress, with a view of the many steeples of Salzburg behind [Photo by Bryan Kemper]
After a long day of touring around the beautiful city of Salzburg September 20, I was ready for some spiritual respite. I took out my iPhone to view the snapshot I had taken of a poster on display at St. Rupert’s Cathedral in the center of the old city, listing all the church services in town.
This is one of my traveler’s tricks. If I see a poster or sign I might want to refer to later—a bus map, for example, or in this case a list of church services—I snap a picture of it.
I found several options for an evening Mass, and more or less at random chose St. Sebastian Church on the north side of the River Salzach, which would afford me the opportunity to walk along the river for a while and still get to church with enough time to pray before Mass.
Walking into this stunning baroque church, I was immediately struck by the rich smell of incense, quite common for my usual Byzantine Rite parish back home, but unusual in a Roman Rite church, especially on a weekday. [Continue reading ...]
Note: This is the second of several reports on League executive director Eric Scheidler’s recent pro-life mission in Germany and Austria. Find his first report here.
Youth for Life after the Berlin March for Life, Sept 17 [Photo by Kris van den Hove]
The evening after the huge March for Life in Berlin, I joined 80 members of the German Youth for Life group at the Singer 109 Youth Hostel for a pro-life conference, moderated by spokesman Matthias Loechner.
The German YFL is a fairly new group, and the conference was intended to inspire them with presentations by leaders from several established international pro-life groups. [Continue reading ...]
Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration issued a mandate requiring so-called “comprehensive” sex education for all middle and high school students in NYC public schools.
In response, Dr. Anne Nolte, a family practice physician in Manhattan, wrote in a Fox News column last week that the city’s new mandate reminded her of the saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”
She then goes on to make some incisive observations:
In medicine, sometimes what is needed is a paradigm shift — not just small changes but a radical re-evaluation of the problem and the assumptions and presuppositions relating to it.
If we had the courage to look honestly at teen pregnancy, we wouldn’t be satisfied with a mandate that does the equivalent of placing a tiny band-aid on a gushing artery. If we had the courage to admit that we don’t have a solution, we’d be unwilling to spend more money on an old model that has pretty much failed. [Continue reading ...]
Left to Right: Pastor Jeff Moore, Cristina Emigh, Eric Scheidler and Vern LaVia at the MHFV open house [Photo by Matt Yonke]
Today, League Executive Director Eric Scheidler and I had the privilege of attending an open house for the Maternity Homes of Fox Valley, a new home for teenage girls in difficult pregnancy situations here in our hometown of Aurora, Illinois.
The home has been in the process of development for several years and is finally getting ready to open in August.
The founding board members came from a mix of Protestants and Catholics, pastors and lay people, who saw a significant gap in the options available to young mothers who might face housing difficulties if they chose life for their babies: many facilities offered housing and aid for women over 18, but nobody offered these options for minor teens.
With that in mind, they created Maternity Homes of Fox Valley [MHFV] specifically to provide housing and help for girls 12-17. The first home the MHFV is opening is located on the campus of Mooseheart, a community and school for children and teens in need, located on a 1,000-acre campus, 40 miles west of Chicago. [Continue reading ...]
There’s been a lot written on the Public Religion Research Institute’s recent poll [PDF] focusing on Millennial generation adults (ages 18-29) and their opinions on abortion, homosexuality, and religion.
One analysis of the poll’s results that caught my attention was that written by the ever insightful Dr. Michael New, who notes the following:
The General Social Survey has been collecting opinion data on abortion using the same battery of questions since the 1970s. In most years, respondents between the ages of 18 and 29 tend to be the least sympathetic toward the pro-life position. However, starting around the year 2000, those between the ages 18 and 29 were on average more pro-life than those from other age cohorts.
What is interesting is that one would not expect the current generation of young people to espouse pro-life views. Today’s young adults tend to be less religious and more secular, and have more liberal attitudes toward sex than previous generations. Furthermore, social scientists have not arrived at a consensus as to why this current generation of young people is more pro-life. Various theories include 1) the development of ultrasound technology, the 1990s debate over partial-birth abortion, and popular culture’s depiction of single motherhood as non-disruptive in television shows like Friends and Murphy Brown and movies like Juno.
All of these are surely valid reasons why older teens and young adults have, over the past decade or so, been more pro-life than in prior years.
But I think this shift is due to at least one other important reason as well. [Continue reading ...]