Students for Life of America (SFLA) trains the Pro-Life Generation to become life-affirming forces for good in their communities and on their campuses, and we see the fruit of this labor time and again. One such example was recently highlighted at The Daily Signal, as an anonymous author wrote about her own experience of becoming unexpectedly pregnant and anxious before a SFLA student stepped in and led her to support systems. She is now a happy wife and mother — read more about her story below:  

The heartwarming article, entitled “After ‘I Messed Up So Bad,’ Pregnancy Resource Center Made All the Difference,” follows the story of a young woman who lived a double life for much of her teenage years. While she was heavily involved in her Catholic faith and looked up to by many in the religious community as a good example, she stated that she had a “struggle with chastity that I secretly couldn’t shake.” Keeping her sexual activity with her boyfriend a secret, she found out she was pregnant right after returning from the national pro-life march in Washington, D.C.  

The worlds she had been keeping separate had collided.  

She felt she had “messed up so bad,” reporting feelings of self-hatred, despair, disappointment, and fear. Her parents would be embarrassed; her boyfriend wasn’t pro-life. She began asking the questions that many women in unplanned pregnancies face: what was she going to do? Who could she turn to? How would this work?  

She wrote, “A routine meeting with my cross-country team captain the next day, however, changed everything. She was the president of the Students for Life chapter on campus, and something told me I could trust her with my situation. I’m so glad I did. Her joy-filled and congratulatory response caught me completely off-guard and made me feel human again when I hated myself.” 

The SFLA student leader arranged an appointment for her at a local pregnancy resource center (PRC) and accompanied her there to help her nerves. The PRC, Community Pregnancy Clinics Inc., was a partner of her university and met her with “total kindness and understanding.” With the help of this SFLA student, this PRC, and her university, she was guided and supported throughout her pregnancy.  

(Click HERE to read an op-ed by SFLA Press Strategist and Staff Writer Caroline Wharton entitled “We Love Pregnancy Centers — And So Do the Women They Serve!”)  

The support from her school included the administration truly working with her as an individual and understanding the demands of pregnancy. They allowed her to take the time she needed, pausing her grants and scholarships until she came back. Today, she is on her way to finishing her bachelor’s degree and says it comforts her to know other schools across the nation are embracing similar programs. 

“Motherhood has made me the strongest and happiest I’ve ever been,” she wrote. “Motherhood has become my whole life without erasing my identity. It has taught me how to be authentically myself and feel confident while strengthening my faith. I now have life experience and a different perspective that fuels me every day to be the best wife, mom, daughter, student, and working professional that I can be.”

Beyond equipping our campus leaders to embrace pregnant and parenting students as seen in this article, SFLA’s supportive services initiative Standing With You (SWY) is also a great resource for creating more happy stories like this. The website is a gathering place for nationwide, free resources which can be utilized to support and accommodate women and families in unplanned pregnancies. This initiative also works to encourage campuses to enact life-affirming policies. To learn more about young women who have been helped by SWY, click HERE and HERE to watch Ruth and Veronica’s testimonies.  

SFLA is so proud of our student leaders for helping women choose life and supporting them through their pregnancies and parenting. This is what a pro-life culture looks like — and we will continue to create it, one student at a time! No woman will stand alone with the Pro-Life Generation here to help.  

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