8mm
Posted on 09/13/2007 4:23:52 PM PDT by wagglebee
Oliver Barbier grew up outside Boston and attended the University of Chicago, where he earned a political science degree. In both urban settings, Barbier managed to stand out from the mostly liberal culture that dominated the college crowd — he is opposed to abortion rights, a position that he says made him few friends along the way. But this summer, he found his niche.
Barbier, along with four other students, participated in the inaugural class of the National Right to Life Academy, an intensive six-week program that teaches students “all the critical information they need to effectively argue and defend the life issues on campuses and in the workplace, as well as the skills needed to organize and conduct pro-life groups.”
The goal of the academy is to give students the information and training they need to champion the anti-abortion cause on their college campuses and, later, to become the national leaders, lobbyists and activists for the movement.
Although anti-abortion activists have had some significant legislative and judicial victories recently — including the Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a ban on certain late-term abortions — leaders of the academy believe the program is needed to fill a void in the movement.
“We felt there was a considerable need to expand the intensity and depth of the training that college-aged, pro-life activists were getting to prepare them to assume roles of leadership in coming decades,” said Burke Balch, the director of the academy.
A Pew Research Center poll released earlier this year shows that younger voters are about as split as the general population on the issue of abortion.
According to the poll, just over three in 10 Gen Nexters (18-to-25-year-olds) say abortion should be against the law except in cases of rape or incest, or to save the life of the woman, while 15 percent say abortion should not be permitted at all. Just under one-third believe abortion should be generally available, and another 19 percent say it should be available but under stricter limits.
To attend the academy, students had to complete an application process that included an essay outlining their commitment to and previous experience with the movement. Seven students applied for the program and five attended. Balch said the last two were unable to make it “for one reason or another.”
For the six-week course, including room and board, students are charged $2,500. Barbier was sponsored by the Massachusetts Citizens for Life, an arm of the National Right to Life Committee that his mother is involved with. Another participant, Eileen Crosby, was also sponsored by her local NRLC group, Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life.
At 18, Crosby is the youngest participant in the academy, but she has been actively involved in the Minnesota anti-abortion organization for years. She said the academy gave her the tools to be persuasive and effective in her arguments.
Living in a downtown hotel, the students were given a lot of freedom outside the academy, but while school was in session, the students’ time was very structured. The academy provided classes in the morning and a practicum in the afternoon, where students got hands-on experience.
During these sessions, they engaged in debates and mock lobbying sessions surrounding all of the issues encompassed by the movement, not just abortion.
“We have for some time realized that our fight on the issues of euthanasia, health care rationing and, of course, abortion is going to be a very long-term discussion,” said Balch.
Speakers included Balch; David Prentice from the Family Research Council; Olivia Gans, an NRLC spokeswoman; Lori Kehoe of New York Right to Life; and Don Parker, NRLC’s director of development.
The students were also schooled in how to deal with the press and how best to appeal to potential audience members.
Vanessa-Faith Daubman, a 19-year-old nursing major from the University of Pennsylvania and acting president of the campus group Penn for Life, explains that they were taught not to use the term “pro-choice” to describe people who support abortion rights but to use “pro-abortion” instead. “Simplifying the phrasing of words brings back the emotional impact,” said Daubman.
Abortion-rights groups object to the terms “pro-abortion” and “pro-life,” arguing that their supporters neither favor abortion nor are anti-life but are simply advocating for access to the procedure.
While the kinks of the academy are still being worked out, the students had limited legislative exposure outside the classroom.
The academy did set up meetings with Reps. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) and Chris Smith (R-N.J.), co-chairs of the House Pro-Life Caucus. Daubman said she was impressed but described the sessions as “more of a meet and greet,” rather than an exercise in lobbying.
“It was so incredible to see where he was involved in college pro-life groups,” Daubman said of Smith. “His beliefs really led him to where he is now.”
The NRLC’s counterpart, NARAL Pro-Choice America, is also courting younger advocates. Active on 55 campuses in 14 states, the group invites, and pays for, campus organizers to come to Washington for training.
It has also launched MySpace and Facebook pages and has started using text messages as communications tools. During 2006 alone, the students involved in the organization held 3,500 voter turnout activities on and around campuses.
The National Right to Life Committee conducts outreach through Teens for Life, a grass-roots movement that organizes young people to speak out against abortion, infanticide and euthanasia. And it is looking for an even more successful academy session next year, when Balch hopes to double the enrollment.
The student participants say the need and interest is there among their peers.
“There is a lot of animosity towards pro-lifers,” Daubman said of her college campus. “I find there is really a lack of education. If we keep outreaching to the students and having engaging speakers and public displays, it really opens people’s eyes that might have been closed to it before.”
A second academy is slated for next summer,
Well, they've helped kill 50 MILLION infants since 1973, so I would have to say they are pro-death.
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very cool!! i am so excited about this. thanks for posting.
Yeah, right. Like if I just advocate universal access to guns, I'm not pro-gun, I'm just pro-choice.
If I advocate the legalization of slave-ownership, I'm not pro-slavery, I'm just pro-choice.
If I'm for abolishing any criminal penalties for adult-child sexual contact, I'm not pro-pedophilia, I'm just pro-choice.
Now I get it! Gosh, that was simple!
All I ever ask them is “What did the baby do? Why kill the baby, what did he do?”
I think that with some time and development, we can begin to turn the tide with the younger generation, but it’s got to come from within. So often they just don’t want to listen to us.
I’m glad to see programs like this and the Centurions. They will make a difference in our future.
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