Pro-life activity for young adults
These pages are aimed at college and university aged people (16-twenties). Below are listed the various projects, campigns, and groups that SPUC run for young adults, or projects run by those that SPUC supports. Please also have a look at the left hand menu for educational resources on the range of pro-life topics, videos, and forthcoming events.
SPUC youth and student newsletter published
12 October 2012: SPUC has today published a youth and student newsletter. In its history, SPUC has consistently sought to support pro-life young adults and students. This has included support for pro-life societies, speakers, conferences, public acts of witness, and campaign materials. In the last few years we’ve seen a resurgence of pro-life youth societies in the UK. Our international youth conference has gone from strength to strength, making it the largest pro-life youth event in the UK. We felt that it was a good time to re-launch a straightforward, action-focused newsletter, about how we can work together for the culture of life. Please forward this newsletter to a friend. It features information about:
- SPUC's 9 Million Children campaign
- SPUC's pro-life speaker taster training day
- SPUC's youth blog
- SPUC's internship scheme
- SPUC's campaign to inform people about abortion-inducing forms of birth control
- SPUC's campaign to defend marriage, which protects unborn children
- SPUC's universities speaker tour
- SPUC's international youth conference
- news of other pro-life events and resources
Youth blog
A blog written by younger members of SPUC staff entitled Why I am Pro-Life. Despite all the media bias and pressure, all the indoctrination of school children with anti-life education, despite the largely toxic modern culture in which human life is wantonly disregarded and destroyed in so many ways - despite all this there is a growing number of people who see through the lies of our age and are determined to oppose them with the truth. This blog intends to fight that culture of death, with a culture of truth and life.
SPUC director's blog
John Smeaton, SPUC's chief executive, writes a blog which is regularly updated with news and views about pro-life issues across the spectrum, both in the UK and internationally.
SPUC on Facebook
SPUC has its own page on Facebook, the social networking site. Facebook has an estimated 500 million uses, 50% logging in on a daily basis, and is available in 70 languages. Around 30 billion pieces of content are shared each month. Facebook recently acquired the photo sharing website Instagram. The SPUC page is updated regularly with news, stories, photos, and campaign action alerts. Sharing SPUC Facebook page content on Facebook is a simple way of spreading the pro-life pro-family message to our friends and contacts. Harnessing social media is another vital component of campaigning in contemporary times.
SPUC on YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, on which users can upload, view and share videos display a wide variety of user-generated video content, including movie clips, TV clips, and music videos, as well as amateur content such as video blogging and short original videos. Over 4 billion videos are viewed a day. Over 800 million unique users visit YouTube each month, Over 3 billion hours of video are watched each month on YouTube. YouTube is localised in 39 countries and across 54 languages. Again, this is another means of modern social communication that the pro-life movement around the world is progressively using to its advantage.
SPUC on Twitter
The microblogging site Twitter allows users to offer real-time updates, photos, and news as it happens. There are an estimated 200 million registered users, of which 50 million are daily users, and 100 million are monthly users. There are about 1 billion tweets a week. SPUC uses Twitter as another avenue to spread the pro-life message and keep people up to date with what SPUC is doing.
Student pro-life societies
In the last few years a number of university pro-life societies have sprung up around the UK, which is a very good thing. Student societies bring likeminded prolifers together to shape and influence their university environment and bring the truth about human life to fellow students at a pivotal time in a person's life. The student societies have hosted conferences, street outreach sessions, talks by well known speakers, combated pro-abortion motions at their unions, and have fun and formed friendships along the way. SPUC is always keen to keep in touch with students and support them in any way we can. Below are just a few of the students societies around with websites, others don't have websites or blogs yet. Click on the image to take you to the website.
Bristol
Cardiff
Edinburgh
Join your local SPUC branch
Not all of us will want to go to university, but that doesn't stop us from being part of a pro-life group in our area. There will also be students at university who don't have a pro-life society to join. Naturally, we at SPUC, and students from established pro-life student societies, would like to help you start up a group. However, it is also possible to join your local SPUC branch, and become active in the pro-life movement that way. Local SPUC branches have also been very supportive in helping students with pro-life speakers and funding for the international youth conference. A branch of SPUC is a group of SPUC members working in unison with the society as a whole in its campaigns. It is the local organ of the society, raising awareness, raising funds and influencing the community through leafleting, letters to the local press and organising public events. Contact tonymullet@spuc.org.uk to find your nearest branch, or for details about how to start a branch in your local area
Train to be a schools speaker
Every year SPUC receives hundreds of requests from schools all over the UK, asking us to provide knowledgeable and well-trained speakers who can give the new SPUC pro-life presentation to students and sixth formers. Anna Gomes, a former SPUC intern and university student at Birmingham, gave the school presentation at the Youth conference. What we want are young adults to come forward and train as school speakers. Eileen Brydon, SPUC's education officer, has this to say: "Every time a SPUC speaker speaks to students they are touching the hearts and minds of future generations. That is because they are speaking the truth. A SPUC schools speaker will both change and save lives". Contact Eileen Brydon: education@spuc.org.uk Tel: 01642 602842
Internships
Every year SPUC HQ in London offer 2-3 internship places. The internship programme includes a substantial amount of research, writing, and campaigning, along with some administrative task. The programme lasts for about 7 weeks and will involve some evening and weekend work, and travelling. To apply please email a covering letter and CV to danielblackman@spuc.org.uk or post it to SPUC HQ in London. You can read a report about what last year's interns did here
Be a campaign leader
SPUC has a number of campaigns running that require people, especially young pro-life men and women, to come forward and take a leadership role in their area. We have the 9 million children campaign, the campaign to uphold real marriage, the Olympic torch campaign, action alerts regarding European legislative proposals and various letter writing and petition promotion about sex education, conscientious objection, and abortion advertising, to name a few. Go to the Campaigns page for details.
2013 international youth conference
This Conference is an excellent opportunity for young people from across the globe to network and socialise make friends and empower one another to spread the pro-life message. If you are aged between 16-35 years of age and would like to attend this amazing weekend, watch this space for details of next year's conference. Info about the 2012 conference can be seen here and here and here
