National student pro-life organization Students for Life of America (SFLA) announced Tuesday the launch of a new website to enhance its unique pregnancy resource program to assist students who are pregnant, parenting, or are birth mothers in finding help.
According to a press release, Pregnant On Campus is a website specifically designed to assist students in finding pregnancy and parenting resources on individual college campuses. The website also utilizes crowd sourcing and surveying of students and administrators to help post pregnancy resources on the site.
Becoming unexpectedly pregnant while in college can be a scary situation for so many women,” said Kristan Hawkins, president of SFLA, which helps to organize, educate and equip more than 800 pro-life student groups on campuses across the country.
“Over half of abortions are done on women under the age of 25 and many of these students have no idea about the resources available to them on their college campuses to help them stay in school and parent their children, which is why this website is so unique and needed,” she continued. “Instead of running to the nearest Planned Parenthood, this website will help pregnant women find resources that are available on their campus right now.”
“SFLA’s own research shows that nearly 80% of Planned Parenthood facilities are located within five miles of a college or university. College students are prime targets for the largest abortion provider in the country,” said Hawkins. “No woman should have to choose between continuing her education or having a child, even it was unplanned and unexpected.”
“SFLA has worked with universities across the country to help provide pregnant students on campus a one-stop-shop with all the information they need to keep their child and continue their education,” she added.
In an interview with Breitbart News, Robin Moses, Secretary of Students for Life at University of New Mexico (UNM), said SFL UNM has been participating in the Pregnant on Campus initiative for over a year now.
“Every Friday, we set up a table where we have vast resources on abortion, abortion healing, contraceptives, and most of all pregnancy and parenting resources,” Moses said. “Our main goal is to be able to answer as many questions as possible if a pregnant woman or parent comes to us needing help and to show women that we are here to help and support, not to condemn.”
“We have information for them such as financial help, food stamps, WIC (Women and Infant Care), shelter options, pregnancy resource centers, and many other local, statewide, and even federal aid programs,” she continued. “We also help women navigate through the convoluted pathways within the university to guarantee their rights as a student or even a student employee.”
“As a pregnant student myself, I can attest to the tremendous difficulty of figuring out the system at our university,” Moses added. “It is frightening when you approach the department who should be handling this and they tell you they have no idea what to do, so we want to prevent as many women as possible from going through it all alone.”
Moses said the Pregnant on Campus initiative is one of the most essential aspects of the pro-life movement.
“We can go around all day, everyday telling everyone the dangers and horrors of abortion,” she said. “If we succeeded tomorrow at making abortion illegal, our society would not be able to handle it because there are no where near enough resources for mothers and families.”
“Women feel pressure to have abortions because they believe that is their only choice. Either they don’t feel like they can emotionally and/or financially support a child or perhaps that they have no one to help support them emotionally and/or financially,” Moses asserted. “If we create an environment where women feel love, compassion, and support not only for their child but for them, that is when abortion will no longer be needed or wanted.”
Moses said Pregnant on Campus will be promoted at UNM through SFL’s Facebook page, weekly flyers and, in the future, advertisements in the campus newspaper.
Despite the organization’s enthusiasm about the project, Moses notes that, like many colleges and universities, the UNM campus is “notoriously pro-choice.”
Still, she observes that Pregnant on Campus garners significant support from people on both sides of the issue.
“We have found common ground with many people when we explain that we are here to help women in all aspects and not just advocating for unborn children,” she said. “Sometimes, during our controversial activism events, such as the ‘Planned Parenthood Project‘ or ‘What Has Roe Done For You?‘ displays, we set up our table alongside the exhibit to show people that we’re not just complaining but that we are here to help change things for the better.”
Moses states that while many students, faculty, and members of the community wish them well, there are people around campus who “are convinced we’re anti-choice bigots.”
“In the face of this, we just keep our heads high and keep doing what we are doing,” she continued. “When people start protesting your work, you know you’re going in the right direction!”
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.