religious liberty and preserved such
freedoms in the Bill of Rights, said
Meese, who serves as the Ronald Rea-
gan distinguished fellow emeritus at
the Heritage Foundation.
Not surprisingly, during a speech
while attorney general, Meese once
contended that it “begs credulity” that
American values cannot be “religious
in nature.”
Rather, Meese fondly recalled that
some 80 percent of Yale students were
involved in religious activities during
his undergrad days, and a special week
during his junior year focused on
evangelism. As well, the practice of
using student deacons at University
Church dates to the 1920s when be-
coming a deacon was a senior honor.
As for today, Meese remains com-
mitted to public service and his faith.
At the Christian Union Conference,
Meese said American Christians should
be unashamed to expound and proclaim
God. The success of a democratic re-
public depends upon members of civ-
il society being able to follow the
guidelines and commands of Scriptures.
After all, through pronounced
faith and determination, rugged pi-
oneers and patriots birthed the Unit-
ed States as a free, democratic
country. The restoration and re-illu-
mination of that “shining city upon
a hill” rests upon the shoulders of its
emerging leaders.
With that, Meese paused to im-
plore his audience to seek the brilliant
inspiration found inside the accounts
of The Acts of the Apostles. “Ordinary
people did extraordinary things for
God,” Meese said. | cu
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
YA L E | On Campus
“Pro-Life Is Pro-Woman”
V I TA E T V E R I TA S C O N F E R E N C E H E L D AT YA L E
By Sherry Ann Morgenstern, Yale ’19
E
year, students travelled from Harvard,
Princeton, Ave Maria, Wesleyan, Fur-
man, Villanova, the University of
Pennsylvania, and Providence College.
“The Vita conference is an oppor-
tunity to bring the larger pro-life com-
munity together,” said Jenna McGuire
’18, the director of the 2017 confer-
ence. “College campuses are so steeped
in the dogma of the political left that
it can be easy to be peer-pressured into
going along with a belief that one
thinks is wrong. Something like a con-
ference can remind students that they
are not alone in this fight and provide
them with inspiration and tools to
bring back to their campuses.”
Planning for Vita et Veritas begins
shortly after the previous conference
ends. The leadership chooses a date,
assembles a team, identifies a theme
ideally relevant to the pro-life cause
at the moment, and reaches out to
potential speakers, along with many
2
so these types of abortions were less
common at the institution and she
had not previously assisted with one.
Johnson was traumatized by the
experience. “I watched the 13-week
old baby flinch from the [abortion-
ist’s] instrument, like it was trying to
get away,” she recalled. Subsequently,
she left her job of nearly a decade at
Planned Parenthood to become a pro-
life activist.
The transition was made easier by
the fact that a pro-life organization
was stationed right next door. Johnson
approached them for help, but didn’t
think that she could ever be forgiven.
She expected the organization to turn
her away. Instead, they embraced her.
“In that moment,” Johnson reflected,
“I experienced the scandalous grace
of Jesus Christ.”
The keynote address was followed
by an opportunity for students from
participating schools to socialize. This
very year, nearly two hundred
students, faculty, and New Hav-
en community members gather at the
St. Thomas More Golden Center for
Yale’s biggest annual pro-life event. For
its fifth year, the Vita et Veritas Con-
ference brought seven pro-life activists
and intellectuals to speak to the 2017
theme, “Pro-Life Is Pro-Woman.”
At the opening banquet, attendees
gathered in a ballroom at the Omni
Hotel to hear a compelling testimony
from Abby Johnson. After working
for Planned Parenthood for several
years, Johnson was asked to assist in
an ultrasound-guided abortion. Ul-
trasound-guided abortions are safer
for the woman, Johnson’s boss ex-
plained to her, but take an addition-
al three minutes to perform compared
to an abortion that does not use an
ultrasound. Planned Parenthood’s goal
was to complete as many abortions
as possible in a short amount of time,
57