National Pro-Life Summit: Equipping Students to Lead with Courage

As many as 2,000 high school and college-aged students attended the 2026 National Pro-Life Summit on January 24 for advocacy, leadership and policy engagement training.

The annual Summit, which Students for Life hosted for the fifth year in a row, is held the day after the National March for Life in Washington, D.C., bringing together pro-life advocates, students and leaders for training, workshops and strategy sessions. 

Over the past five years the Summit has expanded in scope and attendance. The first Summit was held about six months before the Dobbs decision overruled Roe v. Wade.

The legal, cultural, and medical landscape has changed quite significantly since then, with an increased emphasis on state-level pro-life legislation, pro-life apologetics, and becoming influencers for life on campus and online. 

This year marked the first-ever live Summit debate held the evening before the event. Two pro-life advocates, including Students for Life President Kristen Hawkins, debated two abortion activists. 

The debate demonstrated why advocates for life must be intellectually prepared as well as morally grounded to make the case for life — especially on college campuses that can be more hostile to the pro-life movement.

At last year’s Summit, Charlie Kirk was honored with the Defender of Life Award. He challenged attendees not to be afraid to engage in politics to advance the cause of life. 

Participants at this year’s Summit were encouraged to continue the Kirk’s good work by standing for life on their campuses.

Students for Life also honored Kirk and his legacy at the National March for life by making and distributing special signs. One sign read, “Freedom for Preborn Babies.” The other included an outline of Charlie Kirk with his first in the air and read, “Get married and have babies. You won’t regret it.” 

Those signs were among the most popular at the March for Life.

The heart of the one-day Summit is a line of workshops and keynote speeches.

The workshops were divided into three tracks: Leading to Win, Changing Minds, and Serving Women and Saving Live. 

The Leading to Win track focused on policy, with workshops like “Defunding Big Abortion: In Congress & the States,” “Beyond Roe: Legal Landscape of Pro-Life Laws & Litigation Post-Dobbs,” and “Raising Your Political Voice.”

The Changing Minds track focused on intellectual preparedness with workshops on advanced apologetics, how the Christian theology of the body shapes a pro-life culture, and pro-life concerns with in vitro fertilization.  

The Serving Women and Saving Lives track offered workshops that helped students consider working in the pro-life movement after college, discuss the latest innovations being used to change minds about abortion, and the essential role the church must play in ending abortion.

This year’s keynote speaker was Riley Gaines. In her speech, she encouraged students to be courageous and bold in defending preborn life, without fear of political consequences. 

Gaines, who became a mother in October, championed the strength and beauty of motherhood, calling it the most rewarding thing she’s ever done.

She offered the audience four pieces of advice:

• You don’t need to have every answer to speak the truth. Conviction matters more than perfection. 

• Speak even if you feel fear. Courage is acting in spite of fear.

• Be calm and confident as you speak the truth.

• Find community. Community allows us to multiply courage in the movement.

The Daily Citizen applauds Students for Life for equipping the next generation to advocate for a culture of life in America. The pro-life movement is clearly alive and well among young people.