Ten years ago, NARAL president Nancy Keenan realized she just couldn't stir abortion enthusiasm among young people...
...so she quit her job leading one of the country's most powerful pro-abortion activist organizations.
Keenan had seen vast numbers of young people at the March for Life and remarked, "There are so many of them, and they are so young."
A decade after Keenan threw in the towel, the enthusiasm gap between young pro-lifers and young abortion supporters has only grown.
To build on that momentum, a generous donor sponsors 40 Days for Life's 4040 Scholarship. Each year, we fly a student saving lives on campus (and a parent) to the Walk for Life West Coast in San Francisco to award a $4,040 college scholarship.
Full-time undergraduate and graduate students in the U.S. who are involved in the pro-life movement are eligible to apply by visiting:
Previous winners have made a lifesaving mark on the pro-life movement by:
- Leading 40 Days for Life campaigns;
- Knocking on thousands of doors to discuss abortion;
- Collecting thousands of supplies for pregnancy help centers;
- Founding pro-life student groups;
- Starting a free babysitting program to support student moms on campus;
And much more!
Ventura, California
One committed pro-life student's impact can last for decades.
In the fall of 1997, 19-year-old Thomas Aquinas College sophomore Angela Baird started organizing a group of friends to pray at the Ventura abortion facility. She also began setting up a sidewalk counseling program.
And then, just as her pro-life ministry was ramping up, Angela suffered a tragic fall in a rock climbing accident. Friends rushed to her aid, tended to her, and prayed with her while awaiting paramedics.
As she lay dying in the California mountains, Angela used her last hours to pray for aborted babies.
"I will never forget that," wrote her friend Jon. "Her love for the unborn and the aborted is one of the most beautiful things about Angela's life."
Days after her passing, almost 100 classmates gathered to pray at the Ventura abortion facility--which later went out of business on the anniversary of her passing.
Angela's beautiful witness lives on a quarter-century after her death. "TAC students...continue to show up on the sidewalk to honor Angela Baird's legacy," said Monica, who helps lead the Ventura 40 Days for Life campaign. "They're out in force again this year."
Los Angeles, California
40 Days for Life outreach director and former Planned Parenthood manager Ramona Trevino and campaign director Steve Karlen recently visited the Los Angeles 40 Days for Life campaign located near the University of Southern California campus.
The campaign is led by college students who span a variety of academic disciplines.
"It was awesome to pray with the students," Steve said. "With classes, jobs, and extracurricular activities, they have a lot going on--but they aren't too busy to serve God and to serve their abortion-vulnerable neighbors."
When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have ordained, what is man that You are mindful of him, and the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, and You have crowned him with glory and honor.
--Psalm 8:3-9
Lord, you are the creator of all things. Guide my thoughts to consider your creation in all of its majesty, beauty and holiness. Guide my heart especially to your creation of precious human life. Help me to comprehend how essential life is in your own heart. Teach me to appreciate, love and protect all human life.
