Did you miss seeing Students for Life of America (SFLA) President Kristan Hawkins at the 2024 National Pro-Life Summit? Don’t make the same mistake next year; come out and join us in 2025! In the meantime, however, you can still check out her heartwarming Morning Welcome Address:

“Hey, Pro-Life Gen – how does it feel to know that this generation, you, will the ones to end the violence of abortion, empowering mommas and saving babies from the pain and exploitation of abortion?

“This morning, I’m so deeply honored to be standing beside you seeing you change minds about abortion, serve mothers, save babies, pressure elected officials, Democrats & the bad Republicans, and transform your campuses and communities continues to be my greatest honor after becoming a mother.

“Your conviction, your stories you share with me, and, yes, your social media posts about the victories you have achieved this year constantly remind me that God has plan for everyone one of us and it’s far greater than we can imagine. 

“You know, growing up, I only met my paternal grandfather once…when I was five. I kept a little sticker from that cat in the Alice in Wonderland that he sent me for one birthday in my little “special chest” as a child.

“And a couple of years ago, he died. There wasn’t funeral held to honor his life, which left so many scars on my father. But I remember thinking how odd that despite the many bad things this man had done in his life, good would prevail as his last name, Mercer, as it would carry on in my life and lives in my children, his great-grandchildren he’d never met or likely know their names.

“But even I didn’t expect the additional, bonus plans that God had made.

“Yesterday evening, while I was trying to make a quick exit to my hotel room after a long, cold, and wet day, that I’m sure you know something about… a beautiful, young girl came running towards me.

“And I thought she likely just wanted to say hello or grab a quick picture for the ‘gram. But no, Rebecca had something to say to say to me…and someone to show me.

“You see, Rebecca came to Washington to thank me for the videos she’s seen of you all hosting me to speak and try to talk some sense into abortion supporters on your campuses. Because of those videos, which you’ve shared & made viral of this mom of 4, you helped her courageously choose life for her son…who she named after me, Mercer.

“Now, I’m from West Virginia, so I pretty sure we can’t trace my lineage back to some king and or some castle lord in the old world. And growing up, it always felt weird to carry on this last name from this guy who had hurt & abandoned my father and his mother.

“But last night, there was no sweeter name than Mercer for Rebecca’s little boy.

“Because of you – starting your Students for Life groups, hosting events and sometimes have me dropping by and buy you some Chick-fil-A, and your daily, advocacy online.

“Baby Mercer just turned one.

“And my grandfather who created my Dad, a great man, who then created me…

“…now has a legacy that goes farther that just me and my sister and our children…but extends further, down to Alabama to Baby Mercer and the good he will do in our world.

“Men and women, I shared this reflection with you just now because I want you to think today about the legacy you and this Pro-Life Generation will leave on this earth.

“For I believe each of us is destined to do something, actually some many things, GREAT.

“And I can’t think of anything GREATER than saving millions of baby boys and girls and sparring millions of mothers from the violence of abortion.

“This is why today…this moment, your moment…at the National Pro-Life Summit is critical to achieving the pro-life movement’s ultimate goal…equal rights for all, born & preborn.

“Today, you get to choose to do the the GREAT THING and join us to make abortion unthinkable and unavailable & make abolishing abortion your family legacy.

“Now, I’m going to be real with you…ending the violence of abortion will be not be easy.

“And there will be obstacles in our way…and I promise they will be more difficult to overcome than just getting to Washington, D.C. in old buses with 5-8 inches of snow.

“We’ve seen those obstacles this year, in real life, this year in Ohio and on our campuses – the well-funded, regressive resistance who’ve mobilized after becoming enraged after Roe’s reversal and who sadly have fallen for the lies of the predatory abortion industry led by Planned Parenthood.

“And unfortunately, this hasn’t been unexpected.

“For the British didn’t lay down their firearms and return to England after General Washington’s surprise crossing of the Delaware & attack at Trenton. American soldiers, on both sides of the Civil War, didn’t return to their farms and back to their divided families after Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The Third Reich didn’t end their reign of evil after the British rescued 338,000 Allied soldiers on the beaches of Dunkirk, France.

“No, in every struggle between good and evil, we know the enemy’s outrage can be wielded as a powerful weapon.

“However, the key to victory always goes to those who persist. And that’s what those on the other side just don’t understand about us…why do we never go away.

“In the 50 years that we lived under the tyranny of Roe and many, trust me, many setbacks we faced, our movement only grew larger, stronger, and more successful. 

“We’re like the Continental Army who challenged the greatest army on earth, without their resources and yet never relented. The strategy of General Nathanial Greene back then was:  “We fight, get beat, rise, and fight again.” And it worked until the enemy was out of supplies, in Yorktown, and then surrounded.

“And now, here in 2024, in this Post-Roe America era, we’re resolved to do the same. To fight, get beat, rise, and fight again until we accomplish the GREAT THING of abolishing abortion, once and for all.

“Because we have too…there are millions of lives at stake.

“That’s why today, I’m honored to announce to you that our teams at Students for Life of America, Students for Life Action, the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities, Standing with You, and the Demetree Institute for Pro-Life Advancement have now organized under one banner, Pro-Life Generation.

“Together, we will grow even larger and louder with…

• Students for Life of America serving & training you so that you may change the minds of your peers and save babies.
• With Standing with You as we help you change policies on your campus so no woman ever again feels like she has to choose abortion
• With Students for Life Action to held elected leaders, Republicans & Democrats, accountable to their constituents and do the hard thing not the easy ones to stop the violence.
• With the Institute for Pro-Life Advancement to expand our efforts to halt Chemical Abortions, the leading cause of infant death in America by fighting at state capitols, here on Capitol Hill, at every computer, on every campus and in front of CVS, Walgreens, and Rite-Aid.
• With the Campaign for Abortion Free Cities to mobilize graduated Students for Life alumni and pro-lifers of all ages to go door-by-door promoting pregnancy centers & teaching our movement how to defeat these late-term abortion ballot referendums

“Please, join me today and create your legacy by doing the GREAT THING.

“First, go to ProLifeGen.org right now & pursue your purpose in this pro-life movement.

“Then, use your time here today at the National Pro-Life Summit wisely by learning all you can by the team of experts we’ve assembled for you. 

“And tonight, leave here by committing to persisting, always…for them, the babies and their mothers.

“And I promise you…together, we will prevail.

“Be not afraid of the obstacles that stand in our way, for we were born to fight and finally achieve Equal Rights for All – born and preborn.

“For, we are the Pro-Life Generation.”

RED NEXT: Pro-Life Gen Student Leader Dominick Tolentino’s Speech from 2024 National Pro-Life March