Out of the woodwork college right-to-life movement visible on campuses everywhere.

St. Louis - - At the recent National Right to Life Convention held here, dozens of college students and chapter leaders from across the country nestled in for a workshop entitled "Campus Connections." The intent was to drive home the point that a chapter ought to include the local campus in its coverage area and its students in the lifesaving work of the chapter.

Sally Winn and I recommended conventional and unconventional ways a local chapter could make an impact on the college campus in its community. But we stressed that most of the work has to come from within. No outside organization will ever be as effective on a campus as one affiliated with the university can be.

The number of campus right-to-life group leaders present at the workshop (and the emphasis given to them by the convention) showcased how college students have accepted the challenge to actively promote a life-affirming message on their campuses - - and in an organized way. Just as the number of young people declaring themselves to be pro-life has risen each year, the number of students who start or revive pro-life groups on their campuses has also steadily increased.

In the last several years, long-standing and vibrant campus groups, like those at Harvard University, University of Notre Dame, and Princeton Theological Seminary, have been joined in the campus right-to-life movement by students at the University of California-Berkeley, John Carroll University, and the University of Virginia, to name just a few.

To be sure, college campuses are still centers of some of the greatest hostility to the unborn in our culture, but determined young people are making inroads. The best advice for chapters and college students alike is simply, "Be yourselves."

We have credibility as members of our community simply by being a part of the community. Students out to demonstrate this and to be the face of the pro-life movement have hosted information tables on their campuses. Passers by recognize their friends and classmates as the students behind the ...