I am Rogelio Jimenez, Jr., but everyone calls me Roger. I am the president of Students for Life at UTEP (SFLU). I am an upperclassman pursuing a degree in Public Health at the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP). I became involved in the pro-life movement during my freshman year when I met some members of the SFLU during a club fair. I slowly got more involved throughout the years, and I was accepted into the National Leaders Collective for 2025. I fell in love with the pro-life movement and discovered my call to defend the lives of preborn children. This year, I had two projects focusing on the Effective Education and Supportive Services pillars.

The first project was under the Effective Education Pillar, and it was titled “Building the Front Line at UTEP.” This project focused on expanding our SFLU membership and presence at the UTEP campus and, by extension, the city of El Paso, Texas, which is one of the most liberal and pro-choice cities in the great state of Texas. El Paso has tried to declare itself a sanctuary city for abortion. Being 15 minutes away from our neighboring state of New Mexico, the city is known to be on the front lines of the pro-life battle.

SFLU stands as the preeminent student organization in this great battle. We achieve this by constantly laboring on campus through tabling and meetings and by emphasizing the real-world value that SFLU offers to college students. Tabling at UTEP is a real battle, and that can be felt through the reactions we see on the campus. I have seen SFLU members get yelled at, spat on, and even tackled. But while pro-abortion activists went crazy, the closeted pro-lifers came out to say they were ready to end the murder of innocent preborn babies.

On September 10, 2025, while the world saw the public murder of Charlie Kirk, we were on campus tabling and being attacked by pro-abortion activists. I saved myself from being tackled into the small, rocky arroyos on campus. While all of this happened, we came to understand that our presence is necessary as a light for Life at UTEP. By strengthening our presence on campus, we have been able to recruit new members and even new officers, some of whom have now gone on to work for local Pregnancy Centers.

The second project was under the Supportive Services pillar, and it was titled “Restoring the Lifeline at UTEP.” This project focused on restoring local Pregnancy Centers’ access to UTEP. This project was closely aligned with the pro-life mission, as many pregnant students aren’t aware of the resources available to them. Plus, many pro-abortion activists have found they can no longer fight us with the lie that we don’t care for pregnant women.

We were able to bring Her Care Connection (HCC) and the Westside Pregnancy Center (WPC) to campus. HCC is a life-affirming resource center in El Paso, and its interns serve as sidewalk counselors at the abortion clinics in New Mexico. It is a program of the Southwest Coalition of Life, one of the most important pro-life organizations in El Paso. Working with HCC, we connected students with resources and brought the mobile ultrasound van back to campus after a three-year hiatus. The van will now come to campus at least once a semester!

WPC is a Pregnancy Center that serves the west side of El Paso near the New Mexico border. When WPC tabled on campus, their CEO, Deb Gray, was there with her staff and demonstrated the love and compassion we have for preborn children and their mothers. SFLU has now gained a reputation as another great pro-life organization in El Paso.

During this first year of Fellowship, I learned many things. But most importantly, I learned that I am called to be a part of the pro-life movement. I have learned not to be afraid and to be loud for those who have no voice. I hope I can continue to defend preborn children throughout my life.