Wildcats for Life, a pro-life club on campus, will resume meetings this fall on Thursdays at 5 p.m. in the Campus Center.
ACU students started the club last year, but due to conflicting schedules the club has been temporarily inactive. The club’s sponsor, Dr. Neal Coates, chair for the Department of Political Science, has since been working with several students to reorganize the club. The group met last week to establish new times but have yet to determine a specific spot to meet for the semester. In the meantime will utilize the Campus Center.
Coates, who was involved with the beginnings of the club and an advocate for pro-life, said he believes there is a need for the club on campus.
“A number of students will be very aware of the recent videos about Planned Parenthood, pro-life issues definitely are in the news right now,” he said. “This organization gives ACU students time to organize and express themselves safely on this issue.”
Students can expect several events from Wildcats for Life, including a table set up in the Campus Center and posters to help spread the pro-life message around campus.
Club president Tori Wilson said she hopes the club’s new activities will have a positive impact on campus.
“We are still organizing, but our goal is to educate not just ACU students but the Abilene community about abortion,” said Wilson, a junior youth and ministry major from Corpus Christi. “There are a lot of young voters unaware of the facts about abortion even here at ACU, and we want to help with that.”
Along with other members of the club, Wilson plans to have more events that students can participate in. She said the best way to assure these events happen is by welcoming in new members.
“We have plans to volunteer at a local pregnancy center, but we’d also like to organize a 5k this year to raise awareness for the movement,” she said. “And if we can get enough people involved, we’d like to carpool to Austin and attend the Texas Rally for Life at the State Capitol.”
The goal of the club is to inform students of the facts pertaining to abortion so they can make their own opinions in an educated manner. Currently, the club intends to use its meeting time to educate students and to hold discussions. However, the club is not just for pro-life members, Wilson also encourages pro-choice students to come join the discussion.
“We are not looking for just pro-life members, we would love to see pro-choice students as well so that we could equally present our information and have safe debates,” said club member Gaby Ramos-Meta, a junior advertising and PR major from The Woodlands.
The club encourages students to realize that even at a Christian school, abortion should be discussed. Meta said she considers the club’s main focus to be reaching out to students to help them understand the subject in a new light.
“We aren’t anti-abortion, we are pro-life and I consider us to be the voices of the unborn,” she said. “Students often feel that the issue doesn’t apply to them, but in a way it applies to us all, and I feel that we need to reach out to students because we are the next generation and our choices will influence the world.”
Students who wish to take part in Wildcats for Life can attend the next meeting or contact Coates at coatesn@acu.edu.
