A medical student's view of abortion and euthanasia: "Taking Ownership" of Our Pro-Life Views.

As co-president of Medical Students for Life at the Medical College of Wisconsin, I am proud to say that our organization is dedicated to helping studentsin and out of the medical collegeto see that there is an alternative view out there. Life is precious, not disposable.

When we bring pro-life speakers to campus, in many ways we are trying to plant a seed. It's unlikely we will change many students' minds over one lunch.

But it is our hope and our belief that seeds planted during these early years of medical education will quietly germinate in the back of the minds of soon-to-be practicing physicians. Then, someday out in the clinic or in a hospital setting, some event or experience may trigger that memory and a life-affirming response will ensue.

Not all who hear will heed, of course. But 10 or 15 years from now, some of those medical students may stop to think about what they are doing, about how they are practicing medicine, and decide that they must choose life.

It is a tremendous gift to be both pro-life and in the medical profession. Being pro-life changes the way you view your patients every day.

It changes how you practice. You are not just treating a patient, you are caring for the person of infinite value who is before you. Certainly someone could achieve this same doctor-patient relationship without being pro-life, but to me it seems somehow both less meaningful and perhaps less likely.

Your patient has given you his or her trust. I believe, in return, that this trust should be treated within the context of an overarching and unwavering respect for life. The respect begins in the womb and extends to our very oldest and most frail patients.