This is the pro argument for Respect Life Day.  To read the con argument, click here.

Despite the stereotypical notion of Respect Life education where people are force fed what to believe and not to believe by Catholic lay people, the activities at the Respect Life Day did the opposite. Instead of preaching and almost evangelizing, the activities provided more education surrounding Respect Life’s mission and encouraged people to listen to what they had to say.

On Jan. 23, the first ever Respect Life Day was held at JC. According to religion teacher Christopher Yeung, Principal Madelyn Ball decided to have an entire Respect Life Day due to the large amount of students venturing to Washington.

Even though Respect Life Day has origins as place filler, it succeeded in preventing opinions being formed without understanding among the student body.

German scientist Georg Lichtenberg once said that, “We accumulate our opinions at an age when our understanding is at its weakest.”

Like most other adolescents, JC students form opinions on everything from rules regarding dress code to under-age drinking to trivial pop culture matters. Now, with the ever-growing debate regarding abortion, students are forming, or may already have, opinions regarding the sanctity of life. However, adolescent years are an impressionable time for human beings in which teenagers can and do formulate opinions without a solid base of knowledge.

The Respect Life Day consisted of three main activities: a school wide showing of the moving film “Bella,” a spiritual Mass for Life with Father Steve Sutton and Deacon Frank Zeiler, and an educational presentation and question and answer session with speakers from Birthright and Rachel’s Vineyard. Between each activity besides Mass, advisories gathered and had small group discussions.

The film “Bella” provided a contemporary Pro-Life message in an entertaining and cinematic way that a typical slideshow would not be able to do. “Bella” conveyed to students that during a crisis pregnancy, having someone to help an ailing future mother or father can alleviate stress and prevent abortion. This portion of the day entertained the viewers and presented other alternatives to abortion.

The speaker and director from Birthright International in Bel Air, Karol Maglov, made it clear, just like in “Bella,” that having someone stand by a needy pregnant woman could deter them from aborting their baby. Birthright International, a crisis pregnancy center that started in 1968, helps to support a woman and her want of not having an abortion. The goal of Birthright is to help a woman in a crisis pregnancy that decides not to abort their baby by being a “support system” through the mother’s pregnancy and up to five years after the child’s life.

The way Maglov spoke in the discussion group was effective because of her own experience of a crisis pregnancy. The anecdotal presentation that Maglov shared allowed for students to physically see and hear a woman who avoided abortion and chose life. Her story displayed to students that there are more options than abortion.

The day was filled with minimal evangelizing pleas and a hearty amount of education surrounding abortion and its alternate options.  With a little more education and understanding, students can further develop a plausible opinion regarding abortion and Respect Life.

Whether you are pro-life, pro-choice, or one of the 260 students who did not attend school or the March for Life, education about abortion is vital to forming a solid opinion on the subject. The Respect Life Day offered an opportunity for this education, as well as providing a forum of discussion about this important issue among the faculty and students. For this reason, it was a huge success, and I hope educational opportunities to talk about other controversial issues arise in JC’s future.