Students Support Pro-Life Efforts in Leesburg

By Ryan Gilles
Published in The Herald 10/17/08
 
College students usually don't spend their weekends walking door-to-door handing out pro-life literature. But that's exactly what nine students from PHC did Saturday afternoon in Leesburg, Va.
 
The endeavor, which lasted three hours and reached over four hundred households, was led by PHC junior Joseph Alm, founder of Life Roots, an issue-based, pro-life movement.
 
"I'm really excited about this," Alm said after the event. "This was the first time and we didn't even promote it all that much. So it's great we got this many people to come."
 
According to Alm, the Life Roots organization is focused on getting young people involved to make a difference in the abortion issue. Saturday's event was the first of many future endeavors to gain momentum for the movement on the PHC campus.
 
"We've done a lot of pro-life campaigning back home," explained PHC sophomore Erin Pradia, "but I've never done anything like this that focuses on the community."
 
Students approached the houses individually and handed out their brochures with a brief explanation. Afterwards, they identified the household as pro-life, pro-choice, undecided, or not available.
 
"People were generally very receptive and positive," said Susanna Foote, a sophomore at PHC and board member of Life Roots. "No one was overly hostile to me."
 
In general, the groups identified a roughly even number of pro-life and pro-choice households during the afternoon.
 
Alm hopes to continue taking groups out every weekend to knock on doors and spread as much pro-life literature as possible throughout the area.
 
"The goal, ultimately, is to train students here, and then get them to go back to their hometowns and churches to do the same there," said Alm, who first began Life Roots in his hometown of San Diego, CA, where he recruited about 30 student activists. "It's all about getting people involved and spreading the word."
 
But it can be challenging to get students involved, even for something they believe in. "We have a busy campus," Foote said. "People have a lot going on all the time here."
 
Lack of involvement in pro-life activism is not a problem limited to PHC.
 
"The threshold for getting involved in a pro-life movement is usually really high," Foote said. "So people are often hesitant to get involved."
 
Alm encourages every PHC student to join in any weekend they are available. "I really wanted to go," said freshman Natasha Malik. "I love the idea and I'll definitely go next week."
 
"I think people too often underestimate the impact they can have," Pradia said. Alm and others are hoping that future weeks will bring more involvement to have an even greater pro-life impact in Leesburg, VA, and beyond.