Washington D.C., Jan 26, 2005 / 22:00 pm
More than 300 students from college campuses across the nation converged at the Catholic University of America last weekend to affirm that human life is sacred at all stages of development.
The national pro-life organization, American Collegians for Life, met in Washington last weekend for its 18th annual leadership conference. The goal of the student-run organization is to educate students on ethical issues of abortion, euthanasia and infanticide.
The weekend conference challenged the notion that abortion is a right and a choice with the position that women deserve better and that all persons, at all stages of life, must be allowed the right to life.
The conference featured distinguished speakers, including Serrin Foster, president of Feminists for Life; Richard M. Doerflinger, deputy director of the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops; and Stephanie Gray, executive director of the Canadian Center for Bio-Ethical Reform.
The USCCB sponsored the Vigil Mass for Life that followed the weekend. William Cardinal Keeler celebrated the mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
The students also participated in the March for Life Jan. 24. They joined tens of thousands of pro-life demonstrators on the Ellipse to commemorate the 32nd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision.