February 2026 Newsletter
Featured article: "Okay, but Why Exactly?"
Annabella Salvucci
I didn't go to the March for Life this year. I did once, when I was about thirteen, but between the terrible stomach ache I had and the odd focus on my friends' Philadelphian accents, I don't remember much. So, when our newsletter editor Emily reminded me to start this newsletter days before it needed to be sent out, and when she suggested writing about the March for Life, I was at a loss for what to write. She suggested listening to some of the speeches (you see, I hadn't even watched the MFL), but I wasn't sure what I'd get out of that. So that night, lying in my bed, waiting for sleep to catch me, I let my mind wander to see if I could come up with something to say. I started with what I had heard from my parents about the pro-life movement, and what it didn't do.
Firstly, changing the law would do little. Drugs are illegal, murder and rape is illegal, driving over the speed limit is illegal. Still, people find ways to do all these things. Illegal abortions will just supersede legal ones, and we'd be back to the drawing board. Speeches and rallies, secondly, never change people's opinion en masse. Changing just one persons mind is hard, trying to change thousands at once is borderline impossible, and something told me that the MFL wouldn't be nearly enough. And lastly, we can never bring back the babies that have already been killed. So the pro-life movement, and the MFL specifically, don't help by changing laws, don't help overly much by changing minds, and can't resurrect the dead. Alright then, I asked myself, what does it do?
The first thing that flew to my mind were all the pictures I had seen of my friends meeting each other at the march. They looked happy, excited, enthusiastic even. But most importantly, they were young. Why, flipping through the pictures, almost everybody there was young. And come to think of it, pro-choice people were on average older than pro-life people. So the MFL cannot change the past nor the present, but in my eyes it had changed the future. Perhaps the infertile boomers were clinging on to their delusions, but the future of families was embracing life more than anybody else. Was it the speeches that did that? I put a picture in my mind of a group of HSC friends embracing each other, and laughing together. No, it wasn't the speeches, or the memos, or the debates. It was the connection. The connections the that MFL brought about were the true driving force of the pro-life movement.
That was it. To change the future through this network of individuals. To rally mankind together. To create enthusiasm to help this web grow. That was what it did. And somehow, without even being there myself, I felt the selfsame fire kindling inside me just looking at what others had experienced at the MFL. Maybe I could go next year, when the days surrounding the march weren't dotted with "godzilla storm" warnings and -20 degree weather. When I have my driver's license. To me, the connections were more appealing than seeing J. D. Vance on stage, or showing the pro-choice people "what we got."
And so, I went to sleep. This idea stuck in my mind until morning. I hope it will stick in yours as well. Happy February to you all, and I hope to see you at the March for Life, 2027.
Prayers
Let my prayer, O Lord, be directed as incense in Thy sight, the lifting up of my hands as an evening sacrifice.
Set a watch, O Lord, about my mouth, and a door round about my lips, that me heart may not incline to evil words as seek excuses in sins.
-- Psalm 140
Quotes
"It is a poverty to decide that a child must die so you may live as you wish."
-Mother Teresa
"The so-called 'right to abortion' destroys the most basic bonds of love and asserts that the strong can kill the weak if they are an inconvenience." - Lila Rose
Pictures from the March For Life
Warning: there are a lot. Thank you Lucy Ray, Lucy Michel (our president), and Walter Picconi for the excellent photos.
News
Message from the president, Lucy Michel
This year we had around ten students marching with our HSC SFL group, including graduated students. We attended the Rally and got to hear some beautiful prayers, wonderful music, and moving speeches, including one from the nation’s Vice President Vance again! Our SFL secretary Gianna Ostrander met up with our group briefly, while our vice president Jeremiah Drake and I stayed with the group.
The March was awesome; the weather was lovely, we had some hand-made signs and the HSC SFL banner, and the sounds of prayer and hopeful conversations echoed throughout the streets. It was like nothing I’d ever experienced. Tens of thousands of people, all gathered from across the country for one purpose.
The Saturday of the National Pro-Life Summit brought uncertainty; a massive snowstorm was threatening safe travel for all on the east coast. I had to leave after just the introductory talks, but the group said the breakout sessions were amazing. Speakers included Kristin Hawkins, Nick Freitas, Isabell Brown, and other figures from the pro-life movement. I am so grateful that our group was able to meet up for this powerful weekend!
Sincerely, Lucy Michel
President
Homeschool Connections Students for Life
Upcoming Events
Rosary for Life: February 3rd @ 7pm ET
Apologetics Night: February 10th @ 7pm ET
Monthly Meeting: February 16th @ 7pm ET
Members - Please Consider Submitting Content:
This newsletter relies heavily on the contributions of group members. There are a number of items we are looking for:
- Creative content: We have implemented a segment of the newsletter dedicated to the topically relevant artistic contributions of group members, regardless of medium. If you have anything to share, please send it in. We'll accept most mediums, including (pictures of) paintings, graphic design pieces, songs, videos, poems, etc.
- Articles: We are accepting topically relevant articles from group members. Please note, however, that the newsletter editors reserve the right to modify articles in order to make them suitable for publication. Such modifications may include grammatical corrections and removal of potentially offensive content.
- Quotes & Literary Passages: We are also looking for any topically relevant quotes or literary passages to fill a segment of the newsletter. Anything from a simple sentence spoken by a saint to a paragraph from a book can be accepted.
If you want to submit anything from the above categories, or you simply want to provide feedback or suggestions, please email us at hscstudentsforlife@gmail.com and we will get in touch with you shortly._DSC58391920×1536 220 KB
