Students for Life is a fellowship committed to upholding the fundamental right to life on the campus of Saint Louis University. We follow the guidance of Catholic thought regarding the dignity of all human life from conception to natural death. The Jesuit Mission of Saint Louis University calls us to discern prayerful, intellectual, and active means of building a culture of life that rejects the institution of abortion.
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The largest project ever undertaken by Students for Life at Saint Louis University, the Cemetery of the Innocents was the pivotal project of the past year. Over the course of three weeks leading up to Respect Life Week in October 2006, members of Students for Life spent countless hours purchasing, cutting, stapling and gluing together more than 1,750 wooden crosses that would be displayed throughout the week in the heart of campus - the Quadrangle, one of the most prominent and highly
visible locations on campus. Each cross represented two abortions that are performed daily in the United States. The Quadrangle sits beside DuBourg Hall, the primary administrative building on campus. As we began putting up the crosses, while they were displayed in the Quadrangle, and as we took them down, students frequently approached members of Students for Life and asked about the display. One student even commented that he would reconsider his pro-abortion stance because of the dramatic display. The crosses were packaged and stored to be reused by Students for Life groups for years to come. ↑
bulletin boards in high traffic areas which are decorated by resident advisors to complement a floor theme or to advertise events. Students for Life decided to team up with resident advisors to take advantage of these highly visible boards during our Respect Life Week in October 2006. Students for Life members designed and created a standard set of materials which included a schedule of events for Respect Life Week, fetal development facts, our Now What? Crisis Pregnancy Pamphlet, local crisis pregnancy information, and our Students for Life Group Information Pamphlet. The materials were packaged and delivered to more than 25 different resident advisors across campus who the used the template to create the board on their floor. We later learned from a representative at the St. Louis Pregnancy Resource Center that a young woman from SLU had seen our Now What? pamphlet on one of the boards and visited because she thought she might be in a crisis pregnancy. ↑
Easily one of our favorite programs during Respect Life Week 2006, Project Baby Bottle raised nearly $300 for Our Lady's Inn Crisis Pregnancy Center. Members of Students for Life carried bottles to their classes, around their residential floors, into the dining halls, and anywhere else they could scrounge up some change. At the end of the week, members were amazed by how much we had raised; and soon afterwards, two members traveled to the Crisis Pregnancy Center to present the check on our behalf. The donation was part of an ongoing relationship between Students for Life and Our Lady's Inn. ↑
The traffic intersection of Grand Boulevard and Laclede Street is one of the busiest near campus. At the beginning of Respect Life Week in October 2006, members of Students for Life courageously stood around the intersection for more than an hour with signs that said, "Abortion Hurts Women". ↑
The keynote speaker of Respect Life Week in October 2006, Raymond Burke, Archbishop of St. Louis, was invited by Students for Life to speak on the sanctity of life and the important Missouri Stem Cell Research and Cures Initiative facing voters in the November election. Following his excellent speech and a question and answer session, Archbishop Burke joined students in a blessing of the Cemetery of the Innocents. ↑
Featuring Fr. John Kavanaugh, S.J., Dr. Thomas Foy, and Dr. Frederick Sauer, this panel of doctors, scientists and moral philosophers examined the moral and medical implications of Amendment 2 in Missouri during Respect Life Week 2006. The audience was amazed at the deception in the amendment; attendees asked questions and made comments; and many felt it was one of the best programs they had been to in recent history. Fr. John Kavanaugh, S.J. received his Ph.D. from Washington University in St. Louis in 1971; and he is a philosophy professor and the Director of the Ethics Across the Curriculum program at Saint Louis University. He has frequently published on issues of consumerism, intrinsic value, and ethics of life. His newest book is entitled Who Counts As Persons: Human Identity and the Ethics of Killing (2001). A regular columnist for America magazine, he is also an award winning syndicated columnist.
Frederick Sauer, Ph.D. received his B.S. in Biological Sciences from Stanford University in 1993 and subsequently worked for three years as a research assistant at a biotechnology company in California. He received his Ph.D. in Molecular Cell Biology from Washington University in St Louis in 2002 and did postdoctoral research at Yale University School of Medicine. Thomas Foy, M.D. received his A.B. from the University of Missouri, Columbia 1974 and his M.D. from Vanderbilt University in 1978. He is an Associate Professor in the Saint Louis University Department of Pediatrics within the division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology. ↑
Respect Life Week 2006 was directed towards not only students at Saint Louis University, but also those in the greater St. Louis community who needed our help the most. To culminate a successful week of events, members of Students for Life traveled to St. Charles, Missouri to volunteer at Our Lady's Inn Crisis Pregnancy Center. Our Lady's Inn is an emergency shelter for pregnant women in crisis, helping them to choose life for their unborn child. While there, members played with the kids, washed the community vehicles, painted and varnished, and spent a beautiful afternoon helping out in any way they could. ↑
through which one must travel to arrive in Washington, D.C. This year, like the March for Life in January 2005, Students for Life brought a wide range of students from Saint Louis University, Washington University in St. Louis, University of Missouri-Columbia and Truman State University. While in Washington, D.C. members of the Students for Life group tour the nation's capital; stay with host families from Gonzaga College High School and St. Peter Parish; attend the Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life and Mass at the National Shrine; and participate in the March for Life. The journey is long and tiring, but students consistently rank it as their favorite event of the year. ↑
In an effort to attract greater attention to the March for Life and to talk with students about why we travel to Washington, D.C., Students for Life held an exciting event at which we raffled off fun travel packs to bring on the long bus ride; provided snacks; displayed pictures of past trips; spoke about the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision; and sent a lucky student on the March for free! ↑
faculty, and staff members as possible. Students for Life revolutionized the way we tabled this year. We never had a logo. We created one. We never had a table banner to identify our group. We made one. We didn't have any information to pass out to interested students. We designed and printed one. We didn't have t-shirts to identify ourselves and our message around campus. We made them. We stopped sitting behind the table and stood up in front of it. We passed out literature, spoke with students, and recruited new members. We tried to have a table somewhere on campus at least once a month, and during Respect Life Week we were out there almost every day. We believe that we can promote a culture of life at Saint Louis University, and we also believe that all it takes is one encounter with one person to change their life forever. Information tables are critical to Students for Life for the promotion of a culture of life. ↑
The first information pamphlet ever created by Students for Life at Saint Louis University, it explains the mission and philosophy of the organization, along with important information about membership, leadership, and meetings. It is used at information tables, given to interested members, and provided to members upon joining the organization. ↑
Each residence hall floor has two or more large bulletin boards decorated by the resident advisors. In order to continue sharing the pro-life message in residence halls, Students for Life teamed up with resident advisors again during Women's History Month in March 2007. Students for Life members designed and created a standard set of materials which included a timeline of significant events in women's history and profiles of important women such as Mother Teresa, Dorothy Day, Norma McCorvey, Dr. Alveta King, Susan B. Anthony, Victoria Woodhall, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, and Mattie Brinkhoff. The materials were packaged and delivered to more than 25 different resident advisors across campus who the used the template to create the bulletin board on their floor. ↑
Students for Life attempted to do something it had never done before when it organized a 5K Run/Walk to raise money for local crisis pregnancy centers: Our Lady's Inn, Birthright, and the Pregnancy Resource Center. Members called donors, fundraised, laid out the 5K course, rented timing equipment, and ordered t-shirts. They also organized an online registration page and distributed awards after the very successful run and walk. Overall, Students for Life raised nearly $1,800 to split among the three organizations. The hope of Students for Life is to sponsor the same run every year to establish an academic scholarship for a woman who finds herself pregnant while a student at Saint Louis University. ↑
In one of its biggest fundraisers of the year, Students for Life provided Spring Fever concert attendees with $3 funnel cakes and nachos. A core group of members worked throughout the evening beneath the Students for Life tent to answer the large demand. This fundraiser was extremely successful, and it was a lot of fun! ↑
In April ten members of Students for Life participated in the Special Olympics Spring Games at Rockwood Summit High School in Fenton, Missouri. Each of our members was matched with a Special Olympics participant from the Lincoln County Roadrunners. Members escorted them to different activities, cheered them at their events, ate lunch with them, and provided them with a buddy throughout the day. ↑
Georgetown University Right to Life honored Students for Life with the Second Annual Evangelium Vitae Award for leadership and excellence in college pro-life activities. They presented the award at the 2007 Cardinal O'Connor Conference on Life in January. The award included $1000 to help us continue exemplifying Cardinal O'Connor's ideals and vision.