Youth of Our Nation -- Solution to Abortion: Camp 2013
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Adam, 17, let's our photographer catch him before he boards the van for a first day of activism
"I like to find the solution, I like resolutions -- being responsible. There's nothing more important to be responsible for than a human life, mine, or someone else's. I came the first time to camp, like, yeah, okay, my mom wants me to go, I'll go. I sort of skipped through training. I could do all that research myself, I thought, no big deal.
"Then we had our first sidewalk counseling event. I was blown away. I was like . . . you have no idea. I was literally standing between a little baby, and death. I was literally standing there between moms who -- a lot of them -- had no idea they would go in and come out moms of murdered children.
"It was so real. And suddenly, this was all I wanted to do. This was what really mattered: being responsible for saving these babies. Being responsible to lead my peers to see that my generation had been wiped out by abortion.
"Leading them -- because look: I can really make a difference. I can save that life."
Can you get any more real than that? Adam is a repeat camper, and he embodies Survivors' mission, and the solution to abortion: young people activated by the truth, educated with the facts, and empowered to stand in the gap wherever abortion threatens our women and children. This young Survivor embodies the success of that mission.
"Suddenly, this was all I wanted to do. "
This is the story of the overwhelming majority of young people who come through ProLife Boot Camp, now in its 17th year. Not only do our training and leaders empower them to save lives, but coming from a culture in which they themselves are denigrated, a culture that celebrates death and bases value on subjective wantedness, they learn their own value and power to change the status quo.
Bryan Kemper, himself a former camper, now Director of StandTrue, Priests For Life Youth ministry, gave his testimony to campers the last day of training. He brought with him a letter from Father Frank Pavone specifically to our young people.
Dear Young pro-life leaders,
Thank you for participating in the Survivors’ training camp.
We at Priests for Life believe that you are not simply future leaders in the pro-life movement, but are leaders today! You lead by your courage and zeal, and by awakening adults to the urgency of the task of saving lives, when they may have become complacent, cowardly, or cynical.
Not simply the leaders of the future -- these young people are the leaders now!
I could write about them for paragraphs. But they can speak for themselves. These are their own words. These are the voices of the generation that has had enough -- and they will protect the lives of the preborn, and the lives of women.
"By the end of Camp, you can bet -- hey, you can ask everyone, anyone about what they most want in the world, right now. Like what they really wish. They'll tell you: END ABORTION.
"Ask anyone. They'll tell you that. Any wish in the world. And we're all teenagers, college -- any wish? We want to end abortion. Now. And I took that home with me. " --Adam LaBarthe, 17
"We are responsible -- responsible to tell these mothers someone cares . . . To tell them about the beautiful like they have, and that their baby's has already."
"One of the most important things we can do . . . is reach out. Is be there."
"I talked to women, really talked to them . . . and I learned abortions happen a lot because women think they have no choice."
"I'm angry. That's my first response -- but I'm angry at myself, and then at other people -- because it's our apathy that lets this holocaust happen. And there are 56 million dead because of it."
"I can't ever be silent now. I can never pretend abortion, killing a baby, is okay. I can never not do something."
"I'm in this 'til the end, yo. The END of abortion!"
"You know what Kristina [Outreach Director] said? About causing trouble? You have no idea how much trouble I'm going to cause for the Culture of Death now -- no rest til abortion ends!"
- "I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I didn't know . . . I was traveling. I couldn't figure it out. But now I know. I know what I'm supposed to do: I want to work to end abortion, I want to join the [Outreach] Team."
Adam likes solutions. But you don’t need to be worried about finding a fix to abortion -- you, the youth of this great nation, are the solution to abortion. Your witness and energy, your dedication and action, will destroy the Culture of Death. You literally stand between a child and death; between a mother and death.
What will you do with your life? Make your life an exclamation point for life.
