History
Students for Life of America (SFLA) began in the late 1970s as C.A.M.P.U.S. and was later renamed American Collegians for Life (ACL) in 1988. From 1988 to 2006, ACL was a student-run volunteer organization that hosted an annual conference, developed a resource website, and produced a quarterly publication. In 2006, American Collegians for Life changed its name to Students for Life of America. In August of that same year, SFLA opened its first national headquarters in Arlington, VA, hired a professional staff, and launched its historic Pro-Life Field Program.
Since 2006, Students for Life has helped start over 350 new student pro-life organizations and trained hundreds of previously existing student pro-life groups. Since 2006, the organization has trained over 7,000 pro-lifers at its national conference, weekend training seminars, and one-on-one campus training.
To testify to the growth of Students for Life of America, one can look no further than the organization’s national conference. In 2007, the Students for Life of America National Conference had 450 registered students. The 2011 conference sold-out for the 3rd year in a row, with over 1700 registered attendees.
In addition to starting and training student pro-life organizations, SFLA is the national voice representing pro-life youth. In 2010, SFLA made national news when it uncovered that the University of North Carolina System was forcing its students to purchase abortion health care. In 2009, SFLA founded the Stop the Abortion Mandate coalition to fight President Obama’s pro-abortion healthcare plans. In 2008, the organization founded the De-Fund Planned Parenthood campaign, uniting African-American pro-life leaders and organzing a series of protests to draw attention to Planned Parenthood’s racist business practices. In 2007 and 2008, SFLA jumped onto the national scene with several undercover videos exposing illegal business practices of Planned Parenthood and other abortionists.