In the autumn of a general election year, life issues often rise to the forefront of the nation’s collective consciousness and are often hotly debated on college campuses. The University of Notre Dame Right to Life club anticipates seizing this opportunity to refocus the campus community’s attention on life issues as the general election approaches.
Senior Jen Gallic, president of the Right to Life club, emphasized the impetus which the election provides to the pro-life cause in an email interview with THE ROVER.
“The candidates represented in this presidential election present extremely polarizing views on life issues, especially abortion,” she said. “This election will have a huge impact on the fight for life for years to come.”
With club membership on the rise, Gallic is confident that Notre Dame will be a powerful witness to the pro-life cause this year.
“Every year we have seen a record number of students joining our club,” Gallic said. “We have also seen an increased number of students attending the March for Life; this year our goal is to send a stronger coalition than ever to Washington DC in January to commemorate the fortieth anniversary of ROE V. WADE.”
Right to Life is planning several initiatives in preparation for the election season. Already featuring several subcommittees, Right to Life has added a new commission called Joys of Life this year. Gallic explained the mission of Joys to Life and drew attention to its positive, celebratory nature.
“Its mission revolves around the theme of ‘Celebrate Life,’” she wrote. “The aim is to portray the extremely positive sides of being pro-life. We have found that students often associate the mission of Right to Life with negativity, as in ANTI-abortion, rather than PRO-life.”
“We are working on demonstrating to ND students that to be pro-life is to be pro-woman and to celebrate life.”
Additionally, Gallic plans to engage the campus community through venues of political dialogue.
“We are teaming up with the democratic and republican clubs on campus to host an event which focuses on what each presidential candidate has to offer on the life issues,” she said. The event would not result in or amount to a political endorsement for a specific candidate, but would rather elucidate each candidate’s actual stances on the life issues.
“While…not officially support[ing] any singular candidate, we strongly emphasize voting along life issues lines,” Gallic continued. “Our goal with this event is to make students aware of what each candidate represents in relation to the life issues and what their impact could be once they assume their office.”
Besides its presence at the annual March for Life and its aforementioned initiatives, Notre Dame Right to Life offers a multitude of services and programs on a regular basis throughout the academic year. Right to Life sponsors two pro-life lectures each semester; maintains its own Project Mom, offering comprehensive pre-natal care to pregnant women who cannot otherwise afford it; and establishes Respect Life weeks while hosting prayer and vigil events.
“We pray the rosary weekly at the local abortion clinic,” Gallic said, describing more of Right to Life’s routine activities. “We pray collectively before the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration in the Coleman-Morse chapel once a week, and we attend a special Mass celebrated monthly to pray for the pro-life cause. Our website has all this information and more.”
“Furthermore, we are working on beginning a community-partnership project with local pro-life centers. We are partnering with the Women’s Care Center, Portage Manor, Hannah’s House and Hannah and Friends to provide community outreach service to the mothers of South Bend.”
Gallic stressed that Notre Dame occupies a prominent position within the minds of many American Catholics and that the university should embrace that role.
“With this status comes the responsibility to speak out against the greatest injustice of our time,” she noted. “There is great power behind Our Lady’s university. Gathering together all the resources at Notre Dame, we would be able to fight abortion from a medical, spiritual and political stance.”
Gallic concluded her interview by revisiting the paramount importance of the pro-life cause and expressing her aspirations for the Notre Dame community in this regard.
“The fight for life is universal. The pro-life mission is always important and will continue to be important until all human life is respected,” she insisted. “I know that trying to ensure that all Notre Dame students are pro-life when they graduate is nearly an impossible task.”
She concluded, “however, it is my hope that when my fellow classmates are asked ‘are you pro-life?’ later in their lives they will be able to answer with a resounding ‘yes,’ because they have been witnesses to what it means to be pro-life during their time at Notre Dame.”
Michael Bradley is a junior philosophy and theology major living in Dillon Hall. He is also a virtual shoo-in to lose his family’s fantasy football league for a third straight year, and pay the price literally for his failures. Console him at mbradle6@nd.edu.
