By Annaleigh Gidosh
In a string of summer events, the mid-Atlantic regional coordinators for Students for Life of America came to Allentown to do a "Cemetery of the Innocents" display, go door-to-door with parenting resources, and stop at local College Newman Centers with information about their pregnancy resource website, StandingWithYou.org.
Students for Life of America, a national pro-life organization with 2,300 chapters on college, high school, and middle school campuses, supports and has helped start pro-life groups at Catholic and public schools throughout the Lehigh Valley.
The organization brought their coordinators from Pennsylvania, New York, New England, Indiana, and Maryland to Allentown, Pennsylvania, with the desire to continue to support the efforts they began through the Allentown Campaign for Abortion Free Cities and invite community members, young adults, and pro-life groups to do the same.
The goal of the Allentown Campaign for Abortion Free Cities was to unify the local pro-life movement and spread information about pregnancy resources. Very early in the Campaign, organizers found that less than 8% of the community was familiar with pregnancy resource centers and what they provided for pregnant and parenting individuals.
Before their "summer of service" event began on Aug. 23, the group of young adults set up a "Cemetery of the Innocents," represented by pink crosses, outside the Cathedral of St. Catharine of Siena. The display was meant to remind the public about the thousands of lives lost to abortion daily in the United States.
The door-to-door ministry occurred in the neighborhood surrounding St. Catharine of Siena. The group pulled around a cart with diapers, formula, clothes, blankets, Pedialyte for young children, and information about local pregnancy resource centers. Their goal was to display the pro-life community's desire to support parents and children and to explain what it provides for those families.
Group members left literature about local pregnancy centers at 93 doors, spoke with 22 community members, and gave away 45 items.
"One grandmother shared that her son intended to abort his child, but the grandmother intervened and adopted the baby," explained Pennsylvania and Delaware Regional Coordinator Lizzie McNulty. Lizzie had a long conversation with the grandmother, and the granddaughter, now older, eventually came out of the house to grab clothes and diapers for a neighbor down the street with a newborn.
Along the way, a young father in the community took clothes and diapers from the cart and expressed his love for his six children. During the conversation, he noted that he might have another child on the way. The group referred the couple to Bright Hope Pregnancy Support Center, just a mile away, for a free pregnancy test, ultrasound, and parenting support.
Members of the group stopped at Muhlenberg College and Cedar Crest College to drop off literature about parenting and pregnancy support for students. Lizzie McNulty considered it a “successful day,” before they finished up their outreach.
If you'd like to learn more or know someone who would like support in starting a pro-life group, you can contact Lizzie McNulty at emcnulty@studentsforlife.org.
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