COLLEGES
Although Youth Defence has been active for many years at third level, during 2001 a new initiative, Ultrasound, was launched by YD members in Ireland's colleges and universities.
Ultrasound college events, which include speaking tours and film screenings, have packed ‘em in on campuses around Ireland. Gianna Jessen's speaking tour was a huge hit, while the pro-life movie Bella was screened to full houses.
Ultrasound materials are designed for third-level students, and more than 45,000 packs have been given out on campus.
While Ultrasound remains popular with students, it meets resistance from those great democrats in the Union of Students in Ireland (USI) who are first to call for pro-life events to be banned at any given opportunity.
This resentment is mostly because Ultrasound point out that USI has officially held a pro-abortion policy since 1997, a position which is not representative of the majority of students. They also inform students that a considerable portion of their registration fees go towards USI - a union which students are compelled to join, though the vast majority of said students neither like nor care about USI. In fact, like everyone else, we'd be 100% certain that if you asked 100 students would they rather pay their USI annual membership fee or spend the money on beer, 99 would shout "beer".
SCHOOLS
It seems absurd that the advances in medicine which give scientific insight into life in the womb should not be commonly known, but such is the case. This is, in part, due to the reluctance of the media to reveal the humanity of the child in the womb. When it is possible to believe that the unborn child is just a lump of cells, it is all the easier to justify abortion.
Youth Defence's schools programme is an indispensable part of our pro-life work in that it explains and presents the wonder of developing life to students. The programme is two-pronged. Firstly, every secondary school in the country receives a beautiful full-colour wall poster which brings students through the stages of development within the womb and explains the stages at which different organs are complete and functioning.
Each school also receives a bunch of leaflets for students which contain a mini version of the poster and a quiz and a card which gives the address of our schools website which has been accessed and praised around the world for its innovative design and content.
Secondly, schools are invited to request a speaker from the project to give a talk to the students which is centred around a multimedia presentation. The response from schools has been nothing short of amazing. At times it is difficult to keep up with demand, and it is common to be booked out for the entire school term especially with schools requesting return visits.
The school visits are an absolute pleasure; while the lack of knowledge as to the development of the unborn child is apparent, the eagerness to learn all about it is very heartening. The students love the format of this type of presentation, in particular because they feel it is not delivered in a stale academic way.
The lasting effects of our schools project will be seen in a new generation of Irish people who are fully educated in the facts regarding life before birth, making them consequently harder to fool than the abortion industry would have expected.
