The Students for Life of America (SFLA) group at the University of Puerto Rico: Rio Piedras has been on fire with their pro-life activities the past few months, making them the well-deserved winners of the May 2025 Group of the Month title. 

The school year may be winding down, but that hasn’t stopped this group from being adamant pro-life activists on their campus. From hosting debate events to being featured on local news outlets in Puerto Rico, this group is unstoppable.  

The group’s president, Jesmary Velazquez, let us know the group has been receiving pushback from pro-abortion students on campus–not just about abortion but also regarding gender-neutral/ “inclusive” bathrooms on campus, which allow biological men to use the bathroom assigned to women. Two of the Students for Life group officers, Cristian Garcia and Jan Tousset, spoke out about this issue, advocating for women’s safety on campus. Instead of this topic sparking a healthy discussion, the college faculty and student body resorted to bashing our students for their beliefs on campus.  

Shortly after this heated event, the pro-life group scheduled an abortion debate on campus on Wednesday, May 7th. The students flyered on campus for their event and even invited students from the opposing side to attend the event to help foster healthy debates among students of differing persuasions.   

About thirty minutes before the event started, liberal students arrived early to block the entrance and chant for two hours straight. They called our pro-life students “Murderers and fascists!” and said, “You’re not pro-life; you’re anti-rights!”   

READ: Students for Life of America-Sponsored Debate on Abortion Draws Relentless Protestors: Pro-Life Student & Panelist ASSAULTED

Two SFLA members were even physically assaulted for recording the events at the protest! One was hit in the head and the other was pushed!   

Our brave students formed a security team to prevent the crowd from disrupting the event and remained professional and composed throughout the debate. The right to assemble and speak freely is a fundamentally important American principle – including in Puerto Rico! They held their event as planned, even if others resorted to name-calling and violence.  

The event featured a panel with three speakers and a moderator: Ana Sofía Santiago, a graduate in biology and founding member of the SFLA group at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayagüez, Coral Maysonet, a journalism student and SFLA member, and a supporter of the school’s SFLA group and pro-life activist Abdiel Contreras.  

After this event, local conservative news outlets in Puerto Rico interviewed the students. Coral Maysonet appeared on TeleOnce channel 11, El Poder del Pueblo show, and Indiario. Velazquez and Contreras were also featured on the Nuevavida977 FM radio show.  

This academic year, SFLA at the University of Puerto Rico Rio Piedras has hosted many other events on and off campus. They participated in sidewalk chalk days, hosted me on campus with the “What is a Person?” tabletop, hosted a Thanksgiving fundraising gala, and invited me to tag along on a local Hope Pregnancy Center tour (the group often partners with 40 Days for Life and volunteers at Pregnancy Help Centers).  

Additionally, they hosted a collaboration event with other SFLA groups across Puerto Rico, where Northern Regional Coordinator Jose Guzman Martinez (Pancho) joined via Zoom as a special guest and gave apologetics training to all the students in Spanish!   

Recently, they have also been a massive help with making calls to offices in the United States and additional offices of politicians in Puerto Rico asking them to defund Planned Parenthood.   

This group has done it all!  

Despite school censorship, classmates shouting hateful things at them, and even physical assault, this group has exceeded all the odds and shown that the Pro-Life Generation (PLG)-or should I say, “Generación Pro Vida“–will not be silenced. They will continue to stand firm as a voice for Life on their campus, island, and across America on behalf of SFLA. 

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