“EMMA provides the opportunity to tear down the information barrier standing between the pregnant woman and embracing the life of her child,” said Savanna Deretich, Public Relations & Policy Coordinator for Students for Life Action. “There is no downside to ensuring that pregnant women have access to all the information relevant to their circumstances before she makes the irreversible and often unwanted decision of abortion. EMMA will help to reduce the number of children who die of abortion violence and empower women and families with the resources they need to survive and thrive — through pregnancy and beyond.”

MONTGOMERY, A.L., and WASHINGTON, D.C. (03-30-22) – TODAY, Students for Life Action’s Savanna Deretich will testify in support of Alabama’s Every Mother Matters Act (EMMA), HB 401. The bill aims to provide pregnant women with the resources and information their families need to thrive.

As the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling by the Supreme Court grows closer, Students for Life Action is working to help ensure that no woman stands alone in a Post-RoeAmerica. SFLAction supports efforts to increase access to and awareness of the free, local, nonviolent resources available to women and families vulnerable to the abortion industry. 

Students for Life Action mobilized in support of similar legislation in Texas in 2021. 

Savanna Deretich, Public Relations & Policy Coordinator for Students for Life Action, will deliver the following testimony:

Good morning, Members of House Health Committee, and thank you for the opportunity to address you today. 

My name is Savanna Deretich and I am the Public Relations & Policy Coordinator with Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action. I am here today representing the 12 students for life groups here in Alabama and over 1,225 groups across the country to express support for HB 401, The Every Mother Matters Act. 

The pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute reports that women undergo abortions because, “Having a baby would dramatically interfere with their education, work or ability to care for their dependents, or they could not afford a baby at the time. In addition, qualitative data from in-depth interviews portrayed women who had had an abortion as typically feeling that they had no other choice, given their limited resources and existing responsibilities to others.”

Note the phrase, “No other choice.” It is telling that the research arm of the abortion industry acknowledges the fact that its clients felt they had no choice but to kill their children despite the plethora of pregnancy help organizations, government assistance programs, and other community safety nets standing in the gap for them. 

I personally know multiple women that have had unplanned pregnancies in college, and it was not pro-abortion people who helped them; it was the life affirming pregnancy centers and the local churches. They received many free medical services at the pregnancy center. I speak on behalf of my fellow women who chose life in challenging circumstances because women can succeed when her community gathers together to support the mother and save the child.  

That is why I support EMMA. Organizations and agencies equipped to assist women LIKE ME and children LIKE MINE are numerous, but too many women are unaware of them. This lack of awareness was reaffirmed by new polling commissioned by SFLA which found that although Millennial and Gen Z voters support laws, funding, and candidates aimed at supporting struggling moms and families, the same voters were not aware of the pregnancy help resources currently available to pregnant students.  

EMMA provides the opportunity to tear down the information barrier standing between the pregnant woman and embracing the life of her child. There is no downside to ensuring that pregnant women have access to all the information relevant to their circumstances before she makes the irreversible and often unwanted decision of abortion. EMMA will help to reduce the number of children who die of abortion violence and empower women and families with the resources they need to survive and thrive — through pregnancy and beyond.

Learn more about the grassroots work of Students for Life Action HERE

For interviews, contact [email protected]

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Students for Life Action (SFLAction), a 501c4, along with its 501c3 sister organization, Students for Life of America (SFLA), make up the nation’s largest pro-life youth organization and a political and policy operation engaging people of all ages. Together they work to end abortion — the human rights issue of our day — and provide political, legal, and community support for women and their children, born and preborn. Headquartered in Fredericksburg, VA, SFLA has more than 1,250 groups on middle, high school, college, university, medical, and law school campuses in all 50 states. SFLA creates strategy, policy, and programming to connect those most targeted for abortion with people ready to help and builds a framework for political engagement on their behalf. SFLA and SFLAction have more conversations with those most targeted by the abortion industry than any other pro-life outreach in the world, reaching more than 2 million people across social media platforms each week and engaging in approximately 100,000 digital conversations per month. Over the last 16 years, President Kristan Hawkins has grown SFLAction/SFLA into an $18 million organization preparing for a Post-Roe America.