SEPTEMBER 2022 NEWSLETTER

Featured Article:

Our Post-Roe Game Plan: By Hannah Blosser

“Roe v. Wade was just overturned!”

I will never forget when I heard a classmate speak those words to me, the sentence coming out as a rush of excited, joyful breath. When my friends and I had woken up that morning at the Christendom College “Best Week Ever” summer program, we had no idea that a few hours later, we would hear that the Supreme Court had ruled both Roe and Casey to be unconstitutional, therefore ridding the nation of the so-called “constitutional right” to abortion. I will forever remember the intense joy and relief that filled the room when one of our teachers told us the news. We were all laughing, smiling, and almost crying with excitement. On June 24th, 2022, we truly became the Post-Roe Generation.

The date of the overturning of Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey doesn’t seem to be coincidental. Quite frankly, it appears to have been providential. June 24th is traditionally the feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament and precursor to Our Lord. St. John the Baptist as a baby leapt in his mother’s womb when he felt the presence of Jesus, and Jesus in turn leapt in the womb of Mary. This is a sure sign of life beginning in the womb, and a recognition of the powerful presence of Our Lord. This year, June 24th was also the feast of the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus focuses on the infinite mercy and love of Christ, Who suffered and died for our sake. He truly has been merciful in answering our prayers for an end to abortion.

Now, what does the reversal of Roe and Casey mean for us? Is the fight over? Are we free at last from the scourge of abortion? No, we are not. Far from it, my friends. The overturn of Roe and Casey means that on a large scale, looking at the United States as a whole, abortion can no longer be considered a constitutional right. However, it is now up to the states on an individual level to decide whether to outlaw abortion completely, place certain restrictions on it, or simply allow abortion to continue as it has for the past 49 years.

This means that the fight must continue on the state and community level. It is now our job to spread the pro-life message in our own neighborhoods, towns, cities, and states. How can we do this? What is our game plan for ending abortion at the state level for good? First and foremost, keep praying. Our prayers are what helped overturn Roe and Casey, and we need to continue to pray for a change of hearts and minds for our politicians, pro-abortion advocates, and health officials. Second, we need to volunteer our time and energy to help crisis pregnancy centers. Now that it won’t be as easy for women to find abortion providers, life-affirming pregnancy centers will be more vital than ever, and will need all the support they can get. Volunteering to help sort donations, answer calls, or greet patients is a wonderful way to help out. Also, simply donating baby clothing, diapers, or other necessities is much appreciated by pregnancy centers. Lastly, we need to know our pro-life apologetics. Having answers to pro-abortion arguments is crucial when changing hearts and minds, and Students for Life HQ has great resources for getting started (studentsforlifehq.com).

Many think that the overturn of Roe means the end of the pro-life movement, but this is not true. We’ve just begun a new chapter. Thousands of young people are now more hopeful than ever that it is possible to end abortion once and for all, and I believe that through the mercy and love of Our Lord’s Sacred Heart, all things are possible.

Prayers:

Prayer to Saint John the Baptist

O God,
You raised up St. John the Baptist
to prepare a perfect person for Christ.
We call upon St. John’s intercession
to properly prepare us with a true
sense of repentance to receive Your
grace and salvation.
Make us faithful to Truth and justice,
as You did Your servant,
John the Baptist, herald of Your Son’s
birth and death. Lord, may You increase
Your life within us.
Amen.

Source: https://psalm91.com/2021/06/24/powerful-prayer-to-saint-john-the-baptist/

Pro-Life Quotes:

“We cannot place more value on a child because of its stage of development in the womb or because of the circumstances under which it was conceived.”
― Abby Johnson

“The pro-life cause is the preeminent cause of our time, and this struggle between the gospel of life and the culture of death will determine the destiny of mankind.”
– Peter Garrett

“The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being and it is a monstrous crime to rob it of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy. If it seems more horrible to kill a man in his own house than in a field, because a man’s house is his place of most secure refuge, it ought surely to be deemed more atrocious to destroy a fetus in the womb before it has come to light.”
– John Calvin

News:

New Poll Shows Two-Thirds of Americans Support Funding Pregnancy Resource Centers

A newly released national survey conducted by CRC Research showed that the majority of Americans support public funding of pregnancy resource centers. The online survey of 1,600 participants from August 3, 2022 to August 17, 2022 showed that 64% of Americans support such public funding. It’s also particularly notable that the support is bipartisan as the poll showed that 70% of Democrats and 62% of Republicans strongly favored using public funds for PRCs. The approval numbers went even higher after participants were informed of the different, free resources that PRCs provide, such as prenatal care, baby supplies, and housing support to name a few. Individually, both parties’ support jumped higher after this information with Democrat support rising to 73%, and Republicans coming up to 78% approval.

Source: https://studentsforlife.org/2022/08/24/breaking-new-poll-shows-two-thirds-of-americans-support-funding-pregnancy-resource-centers/

HSC SLF Dipper Drive Has Come to an End (Successfully)!

We're very happy to say that our August diaper drive was very successful! We had a total of 82 donations, with 36 donors, putting us at a mean of 2.2 donations per person. Thank you all for your support! Our group's diaper drive was featured in the Family Life Center newsletter!

Planned Parenthood is Transitioning to Gender-Affirming Care  in Order to Stay Open

Kristan Hawkins talks about what Planned Parenthood has been up to lately: “Following the reversal of Roe v. Wade, states are passing stronger pro-life protections, and abortion businesses are shutting down. But it is worth noting that America’s largest abortion business, Planned Parenthood, is not going anywhere. Consider this: According to NPR, since the Dobbs v. Jackson decision in June, no Planned Parenthood locations have closed. Their evolving business still relates to sex, but not always in ways you might think. Planned Parenthood has found something besides abortion to sell. Few people realize that, nationally, Planned Parenthood is the second largest provider of hormone therapy for transgender and gender non-conforming patients, it reports. Planned Parenthood affiliates are fighting to stay open under the banner of ‘gender-affirming care.’"

Source: https://studentsforlife.org/2022/09/06/planned-parenthood-isnt-on-the-way-out-its-transitioning-to-gender-bending-the-federalist/

Nazis and Eugenics Brought Us Chemical Abortion

Rachel Schroder recently detailed the gruesome trail of Chemical Abortion – RU0486 – that went from the lab of Nazi collaborators to the U.S. market. "Pro-life activists often argue that the dehumanization of Jews by the Nazis and the dehumanization of the preborn by the abortion industry are philosophically similar phenomena. However, few know the true historical relationship between the Nazi genocide during World War II and today’s chemical abortion industry, now responsible for 54 percent of abortions nationwide. In the early to mid-20^th century, the pharmaceutical holding company I.G. Farben Chemical Company controlled much of the German chemical industry. The infamous Auschwitz was one of I.G. Farben’s very own chemical plants. After the war, Western countries attempted to utterly splinter I.G. Farben industrial power, but divided the holding company into three of its own industrial members, Hoechst, Bayer, and BASF. In 1974, the first of these three entities, Hoechst, gained a majority share of the holding company Chimio that controlled a French pharmaceutical company called Roussel Uclaf. By 1982, Roussel Uclaf had developed the RU-486 chemical abortion drug mifepristone.

Source: https://studentsforlife.org/2022/09/07/nazis-and-eugenics-brought-us-chemical-abortion-heres-proof-the-federalist/

Upcoming Events:

Saturday, September 3rd at 2:00pm EST - Monthly pro-life rosary

Monday, September 12th at 6:30pm EST - We're excited to announce that our September event will be a movie night! We will be watching Dance and Drum, a short documentary about a 21 year old boy with Down Syndrome. The film emphasizes the importance of life at every stage, and is a beautiful story about the faith of one young man and his family. Dance and Drum was actually directed by Simon Michael, a graduate of HSC! He is currently a student at JP Catholic University in California, and is an aspiring filmmaker.

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This newsletter relies heavily on the contributions of group members. There are a number of items we are looking for:

1. 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.
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3. 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.