WASHINGTON, D.C., September 17, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) - In a speech hosted by Students for Life at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., Live Action President Lila Rose recounted the path that led to her becoming one the most influential pro-life activists in the country. She also expressed her vision that one day there would be an "army" of activists exposing Planned Parenthood and, on a broader scale, replacing the culture of death with a culture of life.
Rose, who is Catholic, emphasized the importance of prayer and reliance on God's will in her work, and said that from that foundation springs a palpable zeal for both saving lives and moving hearts.
"It's very exciting to be on this side. It's very exciting to be part of this movement," said Rose, 22. "We're not just trying to do away with abortion, but we're replacing it with ... a culture that has a vision of laying down our lives, literally: instead of taking lives, laying down our lives as our faith teaches us. Giving of our lives unto love, and not taking lives for death. ... Our generation is committed to that culture of life."
Rose described how her first encounter with abortion - an image of a 10-week-old aborted child she saw at the age of nine - grounded her in her pro-life convictions, and revealed her mission to her early in life. "With the gentle encouragement of my mother, and that thought of abortion in my mind, I thought, maybe there's something - even just beginning with a couple little prayers before bed - there's something even I could do," she said.
Rose then described the road that lead to her now-famous undercover exploits to expose Planned Parenthood's practices, including the abortion chain's covering up sexual abuse and giving young girls false information about the life developing inside of them. Her videos, which have already led to state investigations and the defunding of the abortion giant in several states, have prompted Planned Parenthoods across the country to post Rose's photograph to help employees catch her should she appear undercover again.
As more investigators have begun helping Rose, she said, the abortion chain has continued to post photographs of more and more of her colleagues. However, Rose said she was pleased that potential customers seeing the photos may be prompted to think twice about patronizing Planned Parenthood. The young activist also hinted at a new set of Live Action investigations in the works.
Rose said she hopes to vastly expand the vision behind Live Action Films to expose the industry.
"But really, that is part of the goal here," said Rose: "to build an army ultimately of people across the country, to keep a close eye on the abortion industry and lobby, to help us document the truth, and little by little to feed that evidence" to media as well as health departments, medical review boards, attorneys general, and legislators.
Rose said that it is not only up to college students, but high school and junior high students as well, "to reach our peers ... to get to them, in a way, before the other side does," in the battle for hearts and minds over abortion.
After starting up her first pro-life group at 15 years old, Rose described the frustration and "lonely times" as she strove to get others motivated. But, she said, the magnitude of her accomplishments, or lack thereof, didn't ultimately discourage her: "At the beginning, it was all for the thought of: even if I could do something very little, even if I could do anything at all, it's worth it, because I'm asking God: use me somehow, I want to be used for your purposes."
"There's a reason that we were born into this dark time in our history," said Rose. "There's a reason that each one of us has been given even a little bit of insight into the culture of death: so we can be used together to ultimately be victorious, to end abortion in our country and build a culture of life."