Concordia Students Attend 2024 March for Life in Washington, D.C.

by Hope Nelson

Seward, NE (02/02/2024) — 100 Concordia students attended the annual national March for Life event in Washington, D.C. from January 18-20. This group of Bulldogs joined tens of thousands of other students, children, adults and activists from across the United States to "celebrate each and every life, from the moment of conception." The national March for Life occurs each year on the anniversary of the passing of Roe v. Wade, a landmark Supreme Court case that legalized abortion in all 50 states but was later overturned in June 2022.

Concordia's participants flew to Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18 to participate in the Jan. 19 national march as well as an associated conference hosted by Y4Life, a branch within the larger Lutherans for Life organization that is tailored to support and educate pro-life high school and college-age students. They attended Y4Life speaker sessions hosted by pro-life movement voices, like Melissa Ohden, a survivor of a "failed" saline abortion, surrounding the time they spent at the march.

Sophomore Emma VanTol, president of Bulldogs for Life, never expected Concordia's participation to grow so large.

"When we had that first big meeting...the room was packed and my thought process was, 'how are we going to get all these people to Washington, D.C.?'" VanTol recalled.

Sophomore Nora Betts, the club's secretary, agreed.

"I think it was very impactful to see not only Concordia students all together united under that common cause, but also all the people from across the country," she said.

After support from many generous donors, as well as the Nebraska chapter of Lutherans for Life, Bulldogs for Life was able to cut the cost of each student's trip significantly.

"We were able to see God's hand in it all," said VanTol.

VanTol hopes that student attendees came back to campus with lessons learned at the March.

"This wasn't just a trip to see Washington, D.C.," she said. "[What we learned is] firsthand experience that I can't give here on campus...I just hope that they learned more about abortion and other life issues, but most of all, how to be gospel-motivated voices for life."

"I hope that [Concordia students] can be thinking about all of the speakers that we heard and kind of digesting everything that they said," Betts added.

The impact of Concordia's participation in the March for Life continued after the March itself. On January 29, twelve Bulldogs for Life members shared their experiences with visiting Concordia's Board of Regents and Concordia Foundation members. VanTol and Tracy Howell, Bulldogs for Life faculty advisor, each gave a short address to attendees as they ate lunch.

Board and Foundation members interacted with Bulldogs for Life members, asking questions about their time at Concordia and their experiences at the national March for Life. One or two March for Life attendees sat at each table along with several Concordia Foundation or Board of Regents members.

Both VanTol and Betts hope that the impact of the March for Life experience can continue past these events. They cited the upcoming Y4Life conference, which will take place at Concordia Nebraska from February 16-18.

"It's basically the free version of what we did in D.C., just highlighting different issues," said Betts.

"We're going to be focusing on prevalent life issues of in vitro fertilization, infertility, surrogacy and adoption, birth control and families, and bioethics at the end of life...and we're going to be making homeless kits," VanTol said.

Finally, the two Bulldogs for Life officers reiterated the importance of students staying motivated to defend life at all stages.

"Because Roe v. Wade has been overturned by Dobbs v. Jackson, now all of the power about abortion has been returned to the states," VanTol said. "Now it is even more important to march in the states and make our voices heard, because those leaders are actually the ones who get to make the decisions now."

"We should be supporting life no matter what, because as Christians, we are called to love our neighbor. There is no such thing as a life issue that doesn't impact us, because every issue affects people created in the image of God. We can't effectively support life if we speak out about some things but ignore others," said Betts.

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