Thomas Dinkel, one of the National Leaders Collective‘s leaders of the month, is a Students for Life of America Charlie Kirk Courage Fellow attending Trinity Christian School in Morgantown, West Virginia. Learn more about Dinkel’s activism below. 

I have always been pro-life. I believe that every life is precious and we are called to protect the most vulnerable in our society! I have been the Teen President for West Virginians for Life for three years now. I have also been involved in lobbying efforts in my state, campaigns for Pro-Life Champions, and Collections for local pregnancy resource centers in my area. Most recently, I have joined the Charlie Kirk Courage Fellowship just this past year. I applied to this program because I actually ran into Kristan Hawkins last year when I was lobbying at my capitol and she suggested I join Students for Life! 

In my state we have enacted strong laws to protect the preborn from conception until natural death. Sadly, out-of-state abortion vendors have found a loophole to send their deadly Chemical Abortion Pills into my state to prey on vulnerable women and children. With the help of Students for Life Action, I recently participated in an undercover video series to raise awareness about Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking in West Virginia. For this project, I ordered Chemical Abortion Pills to my house directly and documented the whole experience. The process was very easy: Ordering them took roughly two minutes. The scariest part is I did not have to verify my age or even show proof of being woman (news flash — I am not).

The pills were shipped to my house in roughly a week in very discreet packaging. They accidentally sent me a double dose order, which contained a grand total of 30 pills. There was also no instruction in the packages, so a woman could take all of these pills — the equivalent of four abortions. It is a very dangerous process, and it needs to be stopped!

After my experience, I was invited to be on a morning radio show posted by Tom Roten to describe my experience. We had a great conversation about this issue and a lot of legislators in my state have been made up very aware of the situation. You can find the full interview here.  

Recently, I participated in a Students for Life Lobby Day in my state’s capital, Charleston. We had great conversations with many members of the state legislature and even had four total bills filed to stop this atrocity. Please pray for my state, our legislators, and our families that we put a ban on Chemical Abortion Pill Trafficking so we can ensure that Mountaineers will always be free! 

I am currently working as a campaign manager for West Virginia State Sen. Chris Rose (SD-2) and at the West Virginia State Senate.

The NLC has taught me how to put others before myself and that the cause is greater than myself.  If you are hesitant to get involved as a high school student, remember never to fear being the youngest in the room. You may not have as much experience or knowledge about what is happening but that does not mean that you do not have a passion that can make a difference.