March for Life 2020: Gen Z college leaders say science, compassion will save the unborn
WASHINGTON — Young pro-lifers who are leading the March for Life this year say it's science and compassion that will win the day for the cause to save the unborn.
In a Thursday sit-down interview with The Christian Post at the Renaissance Hotel, several Colorado Christian University students who are carrying the banner at the front of the March for Life this year said they believe that as science continues to advance and as people continue to show compassion to women in crisis pregnancies, the pro-life movement will emerge victorious and culture will change.
Jordan Jantzen, 21, of Arroyo Grande, California, emphasized that at CCU their pro-life campus group stresses "care for the individuals."
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"I think that has to be at the centerpiece of what we do, as we have to be here for all people at all phases of life, from conception to natural death," Jantzen stressed, saying, "it's an open-arms," approach.
For Janaya Fulk, 18, from Silt, Colorado, it's through her nurse midwifery studies at CCU and seeing children being born in birthing rooms and watching their mothers hold them for the first time that has spurred her on.
"I cannot tell you how incredible it is to watch a mother hold her child that she has carried for nine months in the womb. That's what drives my passion [for life]."
Samantha Oldfather, 20, of Colorado Springs, underscored the role that science is playing in changing people's minds on abortion. "Science does back the pro-life movement. So whether or not you believe in God or have any religious affiliation, the science proves it."
She believes that younger generations, even those who are religiously unaffiliated, continue to have an affinity for the unborn in part because they have grown up seeing sonograms.
"My mom has the picture of me hanging up in our house, and even though I wasn't out of the womb, that is me. It's hard for those people when they do see those pictures to face the fact that an abortion is heartbreaking. The pictures don't lie. Science doesn't lie."
Katie McTavish of Parker, Colorado, concurs.
"Many young people are becoming pro-life because they see the evidence behind it. They see modern science proves life begins at conception, and as people begin to engage in rational thought and see the proof, that they'll say yes and get behind it."
McTavish's desire to be a part of the movement for life is borne out of her passion for advocacy for the value of life and for justice for the voiceless.
Asked where she believes the pro-life cause stands in light of the dozens of abortion restrictions that were signed into law at the state level in 2019, Jessica Hardman of Falcon, Colorado, said she believes the proverbial boulder has been pushed and has started to roll down the hill.
"It's now a question of when and what God decides to do with it," she said. "It's January 2020, the first month a new decade. And I pray it will be a new decade of life."
The 2020 March for Life follows a year when progressive-led states of New York, Illinois and Vermont expanded abortion up-to birth and 10 states with majority pro-life legislators and governors passed laws requiring clinics to meet health and safety standards and placed limits on abortion.
When Hardman read about the rapturous cheering that went on in the New York state legislature after a bill passed expanding abortion up until the moment of birth and that the Empire State building was illuminated in pink in celebration, she recounted how she wept and wasn't able to sleep through the night.
McTavish added: "So many people are going to celebrate something, like pro-choice, because they are crippled by shame or living in the bitterness from the shame they've experienced in their own lives. If anything, I want to talk to those people and I want to be able to sit with them, hear their story, and walk alongside them through that, and we know there is answer in Christ."
The young pro-lifers said they are buoyed by President Trump's in-person appearance at the March for Life.
"For the president to show up, too, I don't care what political party you're from, the fact that our country's leader is here in supporting life, I am blown away at God's power," McTavish said.
Oldfather said she believes the next decade portends good things for the unborn and that support for the pro-life cause is "exponentially growing."
"Those mothers who have had abortions, they need to be loved. I believe we are a loving generation, that we are a faithful generation. I do believe we are a pro-life generation," she said.
