Liberty Univ. Kicks Off Student Pro-Life Week
Thousands of students at the world's largest evangelical university on Wednesday kicked off a week filled with high-profile speakers, including "Jane Roe" of Roe v. Wade, to celebrate pro-life week.
The Pro-Life Conference, sponsored by Liberty University Student Government Association, began Wednesday morning with an address by Mathew Staver, dean of Liberty University School of Law, to more than 10,000 people in Lynchburg, Va.
Staver will also hold a lecture with a question and answer session on abortion and the courts later in the afternoon in the Supreme Courtroom at the School of Law. The school has the nation's only replica of the U.S. Supreme Court's nine-member bench.
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"Each person is endowed with the right to life by God, not government," said Staver. "Government does not give us life and government cannot take it."
He added, "The tragedy of abortion has crippled America, hurt families, and threatens to undermine human dignity and worth. In our generation, we must restore a culture of life and end the most despicable chapter in American history."
In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion with its ruling in the landmark Roe v. Wade case. Norma McCorvey, the "Jane Roe" in the case, had supported abortion rights but later in life denounced abortion because of her conversion to Christianity. After becoming a Christian, she expressed remorse for her part in the Supreme Court decision and has become an outspoken opponent of abortion.
McCorvey will be honored at a luncheon during Liberty University's pro-life week.
"Our ambition is simple: we want to see the full-scale repeal of Roe v. Wade and the conclusion of the era of legal abortion in the United States, and we want to see this in our generation," said Matt Mihelic, president of the Liberty University SGA. "Under our watch, our generation will fight to make abortion history."
Recent surveys have shown that support for abortion is slipping among most demographic and political groups. The Pew Research Center found that views of abortion are currently about evenly divided, with 47 percent expressing support for legalized abortion and 44 percent expressing opposition. In 2007 and 2008, pro-choice Americans clearly outnumbered pro-lifers 54 percent to 40 percent. The Gallup Poll also released a survey earlier this year revealing that for the first time in over a decade, more Americans say they are pro-life than pro-choice (51 vs. 42 percent).
Other speakers scheduled for Liberty University's pro-life week include Dr. Ergun Caner, president of Liberty University Baptist Theological Seminary and Graduate School, who will discuss abortion and the Bible; the Rev. Dr. Clenard H. Childress, Jr., founder of the nation's largest African-American pro-life organization; Carol Everrett, a former owner of an abortion clinic that facilitated 35,000 abortions; and U.S. Congressman Trent Franks (R-Ariz.).
The Pro-Life Conference will conclude Saturday with a workshop on student activism hosted by the newly formed LU chapter of Students for Life.
