CLIFTON Imagine a day, when the fight for life is no longer necessary because all lives are fully protected from the womb until natural death. For a group of young adults — New Jersey Pro-Life Future — this is more than a future they are striving to achieve; it is a movement happening right now.
The Pro-Life Future organization is an opportunity for young adults to continue working in the pro-life movement beyond their college years. The Students for Life created this chapter to give voice and a continued community for pro-lifers after they receive their college degrees.
The N.J. chapter of Pro-Life Future is currently inviting young adults from 18 to 30 to become members and continue to fight for the unborn and to get involved in all the other respect life causes.
The organization has five key pillars — supportive services, public policy, industry impact, rapid response and effect education. The group was formed by two College of New Jersey Students for Life alumni.
“Everyone has a role to play in making a culture of life. Everyone can pray, fast, talk to friends and call your elected representatives,” said Joe Lentine, a recent graduate of the College of New Jersey and president of the N.J. Pro-Life Future, “Young people have an especially important role in creating a culture for life.”
Lentine thinks the influence young adults have can push forward a pro-life world. He has three reasons why they can make this happen. “We must show that we care about this issue, especially to our elected officials. Two, young people are the ones targeted by abortion vendors. Young people need to reject the social norms that create a demand for abortion. And, finally, young people need to be proactive in creating an awareness that we care about those seeking abortions. Young people can let their peers know that there are other life-giving options for women who are seeking an abortion.”
Often young women may feel alone, but Lentine, who attends Mass at Our Lady of Fatima Chapel in Pequannock, thinks it is important to remind them that the pro-life movement — parish communities, friends and family — is willing to help them through a crisis pregnancy or to help find healing if they already had an abortion.
The N.J. Pro-Life Future offers young adults a community with like-minded beliefs, which can be a challenge in a “throwaway” culture. The group reminds pro-life young people that they have peers their age who believe in the same values. For Lentine, being part of the pro-life movement has allowed him to meet people who now are some of his closest friends.
The group is currently participating in 40 Days for Life — pro-life prayer vigils happening outside Planned Parenthood locations and other abortion clinics — until Nov. 1. Last fall, they hosted a Dance for Life and raised $2,000 for a local pregnancy center in Egg Harbor. The group often collaborates with Students for Life organizations in colleges throughout the area.
Lentine hopes to get the group involved in some of the same activities he participated in as a member of the Students for Life at the College of New Jersey. Some of these activities included participating in the March for Life in Washington, D.C., volunteering and fundraising for local pregnancy resource centers, advocating for pregnant and parenting students, learning pro-life apologetics, having conversations with people affected by abortion, writing words of encouragement to post-abortive women and petitioning for all pro-life causes.
The opportunity to save lives is another experience those who join the group will have. “Young adults have the potential to make a huge difference,” Lentine said. “Supporting your local pregnancy center or talking to your friends about why you care could make a big difference. You do not know if they will have an unplanned pregnancy next year or maybe they regret an abortion and you were the one that told them there is hope and healing for them. Also, dedicate a decade of your nightly rosary to someone and God takes care of the rest. This work can change and save lives.”