Pro-lifers gathered in Arlington for the annual National Right to Life Conference June 12-13.
Over two days, attendees heard from speakers on opportunities and challenges at the national and state levels.
In her opening remarks, National Right to Life President Carol Tobias said that the pro-life movement currently faces a challenge from those who claim to be “pro-life,” but focus their energies on incarcerating women who have obtained abortions. This approach is counterproductive, Tobias said.
“This path will succeed only in initiating the repeal of pro-life laws that actually do make a difference in saving lives. If we truly want to protect babies, we need to help and support their mothers, and we do that by changing hearts and minds, by creating a culture where every child is loved and moms are supported,” she said. “The American public does not support penalties for women who have had an abortion. If the pro-life movement moves in that direction, we lose everything.”
“Every life is precious, every life deserves protection. But we have to be smart about how we go about protecting life. Promoting strategies that push the country in the wrong direction does not save lives,” she said.
Additional speakers included Aniela Chis, host of the “Spotlight on Life” podcast, and Kristen Hawkins, founder of Students for Life of America.
Breakout sessions covered topics ranging from “What God says about abortion,” to “Midterm elections and referendums.” In a breakout session on the U.S. Congress, Scott Fischbach and Madison LaClare gave an overview of pro-life efforts made during the session, which runs through January 2027.
Before the 2022 Supreme Court decision Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, the pro-life movement had one goal for the most part, Fischbach said: Overturn Roe. Now that has been accomplished, however, the pro-life battle “is more a game of cat and mouse,” he said, where various battles have erupted on the state level, ranging from the abortion pill to amending state constitutions.
This fall, Virginia voters will face an abortion constitutional amendment on the ballot, the “Virginia Right to Reproductive Freedom Amendment.” Jennifer Hubert, assistant lobbyist for the Virginia Society for Human Life, said most Virginians she meets have no clue that the amendment would enshrine abortion up until birth as a right in the Virginia constitution. “There are people who generally I would think of as being very aware of what’s going on in Virginia, and then I’ll say the words, ‘Have you heard about the constitutional amendment?’ and they’ll go, ‘What?’ ” Huber said. “We are really struggling with a crisis of public information. People just don’t know what’s going on, unless it is about an election for an actual candidate.”
Hubert said Virginians need to spread the news about the amendment, particularly the fact that it would remove parental consent for a minor to obtain an abortion. “This will override parental consent in Virginia, and that’s a huge deal,” she said. “We’ve had so many parental rights infringements in Virginia in the last few years. This is just another one, and it’s so much worse.”
Find out more
To learn more about the constitutional amendments on the ballot this fall, go to vacatholic.org.
