International Pro-Life Youth Conference
November 11 – 13, 2011

After a great kick-off on Friday, we started Saturday with more wonderful speakers, and the same energy that carried us through the first day of the conference.

Our first speaker on Saturday was Warwick Pascoe from New Zealand. A geologist by education, Mr. Pascoe spent years traveling the world marveling at rocks (as he put it), but then came to the conclusion that we are the greatest masterpieces of creation. Yes, we are even more amazing than Mr. David here, because under our incredible outer appearances is an incredibly designed network of bodily systems which keeps us alive! We are more beautiful and intricately designed than any rock or sunset.

His speech covered the beauty and magnificence of human development from conception until birth. We are all fearfully and wonderfully made, and “it doesn’t matter where you come from,” he said “we have our humanity in common.”All you have to do is look at one cell of the human body, and you can’t help but marvel at our lives. God is the ultimate artist, and we are His handiwork. Mr. Pascoe ended his speech with this quote: “The buildings are just buildings, the roads are just roads, but our people are irreplaceable.”

Next we heard from a panel on Advocating life on your campus. Kristina Garza of Survivors encouraged us to “create our ripples”, referencing Mother Teresa’s quote: “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water and create ripples.” Joe Langfeld of Human Life Alliance said that activism will help solidify your beliefs. Rebecca Roughneen from Youth Defence , and Allison Aranda from Life Legal Defence Foundation  also spoke, and encouraged us to be where the people are at.

Jill Stanek talked about using new and social media as HUGE frontiers for the pro-life revolution. You should really check out her blog! She covers recent happenings in the pro-life arena, so make sure to check out her blog for yourself!

Walter Hoye from Issues4Life Foundation talked next about Abortion in Black America. The culture of death targets minorities, as shown by horrifying statistics Mr. Hoye shared with us. For example, about 3% of America’s population (african american women of childbearing age) is responsible for at least 30% of abortions in our country. Why? Because the abortion industry targets them. “Time is out,” Mr. Hoye said “We need you now. We cannot afford to wait another 38 years.”

The panel show on the left: Tim Herrmann from C-FAM, Andy Moore from Pro-Life Planet, and Ide Nic Mhathuna from Youth Defence shared information with us about Advocating Life Internationally. Abortion is a global issue because it effects human everywhere. All of us have been effected by it. We’ve lost 1/3 of my generation: my friends, your friends, our brothers, sisters, cousins, grandchildren – The list goes on. Let us fight harder every day until the life of EVERY human being is protected from conception until natural death!

Troy Newman from Operation Rescue talked with us about the Gatekeepers of the Abortion Industry. Twenty years ago, there were about 2,176 abortion facilities in America, and almost no Crisis Pregnancy Centers. Think that’s changed? Yeah, it has!! Today there are about 657 abortion facilities (a 70% DECREASE!!), and Crisis Pregnancy Centers outnumber them with a 4:1 ratio. We’ve come a long way, but the road continues…

Our next panel on Effective Tools for Successful Events was really informative. This is a post in and of itself, so look for that in the future 🙂

Saturday ended with Bernadette Smyth as our last speaker. There is only one word that describes this “warrior for the babies” (and the whole conference), and that is: AWESOME. Bernadette was ‘just’ a regular young mom when she heard a pro-life speech about 13 or 14 years ago. Since then, she has taken on the pro-life movement in Northern Ireland, and started the organization Precious Life. Bernadette’s story is inspirational. “When the Lord calls you, He equips you” she said. “We must rise up to protect these babies because they don’t have anyone else.” “We have to rise up because when we’re silent, babies die.”

“One day, history will look back and say: not only did they win the battles, they won the war.” “Get your armor on, and run into battle” she said.

God tells us in Ephesians 6:11 –

Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.

Are ready to stand up, equipped with the armor of God, and protect those who have no one else to speak for them? 

International Pro-Life Youth Conference 
November 11 – 13, 2011

I told you about how the conference started, so now I’ll fill you in on the speakers. After rocking out to “Party Rock Anthem” and getting the crowd cheering, we heard from our first speaker – Lila Rose from Live Action.

I love how Lila encourages us, as young people, to stand up for life. It doesn’t matter how old we are, we can still make big differences. At IPYC, Lila pointed out that we’re often called the “future” of the pro-life movement, but we’re here to be the leaders TODAY. You bet! There is no need to wait till we’re older or until someone gives us permission to be advocates for life. The time is now! We are sick to death of evil prevailing, and we are committed to ending the evil of abortion.

Leadership (especially in the pro-life movement) can be lonely. Lila can attest to that because her friends didn’t always show up to meetings when she first started Live Action. She shared with us what her mom told her when she was discouraged by this lonliness: Leadership is lonely, but we have to forge the way and people will follow.

Next we heard from a panel (Bryan Kemper, Jill Stanek, and Lila Rose) on Using New Media to Advance the Pro-Life Message. They had some wonderful tips on how to effectively spread the pro-life message online. One point, that visual media speaks louder than just words, has certainly been shown time and time again in the pro-life movement. So true! Seeing pictures and videos “inspires us to action” because we see the truth, and it can’t be denied. Looking at an aborted baby, we can’t say “Oh, that’s just a blob of tissue”. Visual media forces us to face the truth about abortion.

Next we heard from Austin Ruse of C-FAM. He talked about his pro-life involvement with the UN. He said that “Abortion will not end until we change the public sentiment.” It was really interesting, and definitely something I hadn’t heard much about before!

Next was Eoghan De Faoite of Youth Defence. Can I just say that irish people rock?!?!?!? And not just because of their accents 😉 Ireland is one of the only countries that remains abortion free today, much to the credit of Youth Defence. They are an incredible group of motivated young people dedicated to educating, demonstrating, campaigning, communicating, and lobbying the pro-life message. They have successfully kept abortion out of Ireland for 20 years – and counting! This speech was great – I wish I could have written faster to record more quotes! I think we can learn a lot from what Youth Defence does, since they’ve obviously been successful.

Our last speaker of the night was Bryan Kemper of Stand True Ministries.  “Every day we lift our heads off our pillow,” he said “is one we’re not promised.” Remember the story of the Good Samaritan? A terribly injured man was laying beside the road, and a Priest and Levite both passed him without lending a hand. Neither of them thought it was his business, so both left the man for someone else to take care of. The Samaritan passed by next, and even though he did not have to help the injured man, he did. This care for our fellow human beings is at the heart of the pro-life movement. We care about our brothers and sisters from the point of conception until natural death, and that’s why we are fighting for their lives.

I challenge you to think about this: Are you more like the Priest and Levite, or are you more like the Good Samaritan?


Are you ready to stop on the side of the road, and help your brothers and sisters?