The American Feminist

The American Feminist, Fall 1997

College Pro-Lifers Get Creative

From Washington, D.C., to Washington state, pro-life student groups are adding creative twists to FFL's College Outreach Program. Here are just a few of the innovative ideas students have implemented on their campuses.

Georgetown University
Washington, D.C.

Georgetown University Right to Life made sure that women on campus were aware of all of their choices. FFL's "You're Not Alone" brochures accompanied invitations to the first college Pregnancy Resources Forum in the country. Panelists discussed the crisis-pregnancy services that were available to women at Georgetown and identified additional resources that need to be developed for pregnant and parenting students.

Swarthmore College
Swarthmore, PA

Swarthmore College's newly organized Students for Life incorporated their own group's information into the original copies of FFL's ads and then papered their campus with fliers in order to publicize FFL Executive Director Serrin Foster's speech at their school. Foster, who was the first pro-life speaker to address the school in five years, addressed an overwhelmingly abortion rights audience. Students on both sides of the abortion issue agreed with FFL's College Outreach Program, which seeks to provide women with all of the choices. The biggest criticism? FFL is "too idealistic," according to the president of Swarthmore's abortion rights group.

Villanova University
Villanove, PA

Two days after FFL Executive Director Serrin Foster addressed the university, an editorial ran in the campus newspaper challenging the university administration, faculty and students to examine seriously support for pregnant and parenting students. The entire campus was invited to engage in a discussion via e-mail about the idea of day care on campus. University administrators also explained what services were available for women facing an unplanned pregnancy through fliers in student mailboxes and an article in the Villanova campus newspaper.

Gonzaga University
Spokane, WA

Students posted copies of FFL's "You're Not Alone" ad on the bulletin boards in every residence hall. In this way they made sure students in the dorms would know about available assistance even if they never went to the student health clinic.

Holy Cross College
Worcester, MA

Students passed out 1,000 of FFL's "You're Not Alone" brochures to women on campus a few days before FFL Executive Director Serrin Foster's scheduled speech, "The Feminist Case Against Abortion," at their school.

Northwestern University
Evanston, IL

The director of the Chicago Care Crisis Pregnancy Center accompanied the president of the University Alliance for Life to the Northwestern University Health Center. They explained ways in which crisis pregnancy centers can help women in need. The CPC director's presence helped persuade the staff to make referrals to such centers in the future. This alternative is especially important given the Northwestern University Health Center's recent announcement that it would provide students with the abortifacient RU-486 upon approval by the Food and Drug Administration.

University of Rochester
Rochester, NY

Kerri-Ann Kiniorski, FFL Board Secretary and a graduate student at the University of Rochester, wrote a letter to the editor of the school's newspaper about the need for greater resources for pregnant women. After reading Kiniorski's letter, the Student Health Clinic Director invited her to discuss ways to improve services for women on campus. Her letter inspired the University of Rochester's Black Students Union to sponsor a panel discussion on pregnancy resources for students. FFL-NY also sponsored a number of ads in campus newspapers in their state.

FFL's Public Education and Outreach Coordinator Elise Ehrhard has passed along these creative ideas to student leaders via e-mail, enabling student groups and leaders to connect with each other over the Internet. FFL is incorporating these new ideas into its Guide for Pro-Life Collegiate Groups, which is part of FFL's College Outreach Program. We hope these new twists will inspire pro-life students everywhere with creative ways to reach women in need.

If you are interested in bringing FFL's empowering pro-woman, pro-life message to a college near you, please contact FFL's Public Education and Outreach Coordinator at info@feministsforlife.org.