Protect Life at Calvin College students came together on Tuesday, April 29 to celebrate a semester’s worth of work and look ahead to next year by announcing new leadership. This student organization seeks to facilitate discussion about abortion and help students with unexpected pregnancies.

Caroline Smith, the president of Protect Life at Calvin College, said that abortion is “so taboo… especially on a Christian campus… It should be the opposite.”

After the meeting, students place flags on Commons Lawn for the Cemetery of the Unborn, with flags representing how many abortions take place in one year. The club hopes this event will raise abortion awareness on campus.

Smith said, “My favorite thing is when I hear students talking about it around campus.”

To encourage discussion about abortion, Protect Life at Calvin College hosted their annual Stump the Pro-Lifer event on March 5, where a pro-life speaker comes to campus to answer questions that attendees have.

The organization also held a tabling event in Johnny’s where they showed videos describing abortion and offered cupcakes. Zach Farrel, next year’s meeting coordinator, said, “The videos were not gruesome, but they were powerful.”

Protect Life at Calvin College also holds more outreach-focused events. “We’re also trying to do a lot more with outreach,” said Farrel.

On April 2, students volunteered at Alpha Grand Rapids, a local center for those those in unexpected pregnancies. Students put together gift bags for the women and men that go to the facilities that Alpha Grand Rapids hosts.

Last week participants wrote messages in chalk around campus encouraging pro-life positions. Protect Life at Calvin College hoped this event would both raise awareness of the issue of abortion and encourage anyone who is pregnant. Smith remarked, “You never know when someone’s going to see that that really needs to see it.”

As this group looks toward next year, they hope to increase their efforts and influence both on and off campus. Farrel noted, “We’re going to be moving towards an every-week meeting,” up from every-other-week.

“People get reputations of just, kind of yelling at people and not knowing what they’re talking about, and we want our students to be really kind and know what they’re talking about,” said Smith. “We really focus in the fall semester on educating the students in our group.”

Aside from educating students, Protect Life at Calvin College offers other tools as well. Farrel said, “We have resources that we can help guide them to in order for them to deal with their pregnancy.”

The events that Protect Life at Calvin College has hosted this year include Stump the Pro-Lifer, a volunteer day at Alpha Grand Rapids, tabling events in Johnny’s, campus chalking, and the Cemetery of the Unborn.

For more information and a full video of the Stump the Pro-Lifer event, see the Facebook page of Protect Life at Calvin College.