Today, only eight percent of college campuses have pro-life focus groups, according to Elizabeth Paoletti, senior engineering major and president of UB Students for Life. While members involved in the movement are willing to talk, they are even more willing to listen.
"The goal of our group is to change people's hearts," said Jaimie Iuranich, a graduate student studying library and information sciences.
Cooperating with the nationwide organization Students for Life, UB students are trying to have their pro-life organization approved by the Student Association and to plan an active role educating other students on campus.
"If you have a pro-life vision, you're more than welcome in the group," Paoletti said.
Despite spreading what Paoletti and other members believe is a positive message, this group knows the path to acceptance isn't going to be smooth. So far, the only resistance the group has encountered has been opposition to a graphic poster Iuranich posted on bulletin boards, depicting an aborted fetus. One concerned citizen e-mailed Iuranich requesting the posters be taken down as they might have disturbed a group of youth students in the Gifted and Talented.
Christopher May, a junior electrical engineering major, attempted to bring up the issue of pro-life last year with the College Republicans, only to find that most of them were actually pro-choice.
Conversely, Democrats for Life groups can be found on college campuses across the country, according to Paoletti, who also found that it doesn't matter what your political affiliation is as much as what's in your heart.
"There's a lot of radical pro-choice things going on at UB - free condoms and information distributed on contraceptives," May said. "You never get to see the other side."
While UB Students for Life represents the other side, they still abide by all of SA's rules for creating clubs, which states that clubs cannot discriminate against students.
According to Paoletti, most conservative Christians, who form the majority of the club, oppose birth control due to controversial beliefs over the way birth control prevents pregnancy. Many prefer to use natural family planning and abstinence as their only methods of contraception.
According to Sherri Darrow, the director of Student Health and Wellness, birth control doesn't, in fact, hurt an already pregnant woman, and the hormones will not impact the fetus.
"Emergency contraception doesn't kill a fetus; it is pregnancy prevention," Darrow said.
Paoletti said that, despite controversy concerning birth control methods, the preferred choice for pro-life believers is abstinence.
"Abstinence varies from person to person, but most prefer it," Paoletti said. "It comes with the territory."
A long-standing argument has always been that a woman's life is her own, and therefore, it's her own choice about what to do with her body. Iuranich had previously believed in the pro-choice movement until a crisis pregnancy last spring changed her mind.
"Life begins at conception," Iuranich said. "It's a human being from conception."
Iuranich researched abortions and made the decision to go through with the pregnancy, despite making an appointment for an abortion at her boyfriend's request. Iuranich felt that at age 22, she was in a better position to raise a child than she would be if she were younger. She found she couldn't give up the baby for adoption, especially not after watching his activity and heartbeat on sonograms.
"Being pregnant made me realize it's really a human being," Iuranich said. "They say it's a woman's body and it's her choice, but for me it really wasn't. It was another person, with his own personality, being active in the sonograms."
Members hope to brave the Buffalo weather and provide 'sidewalk counseling' to women outside abortion clinics - counseling that requires some training, but has a chance at convincing a woman that abortion is not the only solution.
Paoletti also wants to plan some diaper drives, where volunteers ask shoppers entering a grocery store to purchase diapers or baby food for them to give to local women's shelters. Upcoming pro-life events include the Chain of Life, hosted by the Buffalo Diocese on the first Sunday in October, where pro-life protesters will gather along Niagara Falls Boulevard with signs.
Pamphlets from Human Alliance for Life will be distributed, along with white rubber bracelets inscribed with "life is precious."
The group's focus is on the negative mental and physical side effects of abortion that require support networks that UB does not have at the moment. According to Paoletti, there is no pregnancy support group or post-abortion support group available through UB, though Counseling Services can provide assistance and guidance in all matters of student life.
One piece of trivia Paoletti provided was that 52 percent of abortions are performed on women younger than 25.
"Sixty-three percent of students come into college being pro-life," Paoletti said. "When they graduate, only about 37 percent are still pro-life. It's all about the mindset and what you're exposed to in college."
Paoletti receives her information from Studentsforlife.org and HumanLife.org, though both pro-choice and pro-life information is sometimes subjective.
The main reason the group is trying to gain enough membership to become official is so they can provide a forum for those in the pro-life movement.
"A lot of people believe in the movement," said Matt Donovan, a senior civil engineering major. "They just don't want to stand out and be the poster person."
For more information, contact Elizabeth Paoletti at eap22@buffalo.edu.
Photo: Courtesy of Laron Fomby
