From the SFLA Blog

The Mission for Life: How We’re Creating A Culture of Life in North Dakota 

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Caroline Wharton - 05 Jun 2023
Guest post by SFLA William Wilberforce Fellow Chloe Kramer

GUEST POST: The moment Roe v. Wade was reversed, I knew that my project for Students for Life of America’s (SFLA) William Wilberforce Fellowship had to be centered around truly standing alongside and reaching women in my community. As a sophomore at North Dakota State University, I could feel the urgency to point women toward real resources. There was a lot of misinformation going around that left many students unsure of what would happen to vulnerable women in a Post-Roe America.  

To combat this issue, my SFLA group and I decided to work on promoting resources that would help women be supported in choosing life and unite local pro-life groups to truly create a life-affirming culture in North Dakota. We did this through media, speaking to local groups, and working with students from across the state. Since the majority of community members don’t know about their local nonviolent pregnancy resources, we knew the importance of educating others about these options. We made fliers, held events, and spoke to our peers about their value. We focused on resources such as SFLA’s Standing With You supportive services initiative and abortion pill reversal. By taking the community emphasis off abortion facilities and educating people about alternative resources, we were able to begin building a culture of life.  

Through this initiative, we were able to engage more than 500 pro-life students from all over the state through our events and had more than 100 conversations about life-affirming resources. We worked with local SFLA groups, right to life groups, churches, and pregnancy resource centers. Some of these events included hosting a local March for Life, writing handwritten letters to pregnant women in our community, and hosting SFLA President Kristan Hawkins on our campus, where around 400 students were in attendance. You could truly feel the momentum and excitement for the pro-life movement.  

I was inspired by my fellowship to do the impossible — which is why I wanted to be a part of an SFLA leadership program. These efforts showed me that the actions we do now matter for a pro-life future. After this year, the relationships we built and the seeds we planted will continue to make a difference in our community.  

The mission is for life and for life to the fullest. We believe that these women deserve better and were created for so much more than Planned Parenthood propaganda and a culture of death. Every conversation brought us closer to a culture of life in North Dakota and making sure that no woman stands alone in a Post-Roe America.  

READ NEXT: New on Explicitly Pro-Life: Messaging Matters for the Pro-Life Movement

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