By Emily Kroll, Right to Life of Michigan Events & Outreach Coordinator
Our 33rd Annual High School Oratory Contest was held Saturday, May 21 at New Hope Community Church in Charlotte. This year we had 22 contestants who gave powerful prolife speeches on abortion, infanticide, and embryonic stem cell research.
Our first-place winner, who will be representing Right to Life of Michigan at the National Right to Life Jane B. Thompson Oratory Contest in Atlanta, Georgia, was Erin Enderby from St. Clair County Right to Life. Our second-place winner was Jamie Stiver from Lenawee County Right to Life. Our third-place winner was Quinten Ruff representing Berrien County Right to Life.
Pictured from left to right: 3rd place Quinten Ruff, 2nd place Jamie Stiver, 1st place Erin Enderby.
From Erin’s speech:
“More of us need to be on the front lines of this fight for our unborn brothers and sisters, not just idly sitting around and staying quiet when this uncomfortable topic comes up. The elders in our community actively taking up this fight for us won’t always be here to expose the injustices of abortion. We need to beat Planned Parenthood at its own game by using social media to make sure the facts and testimonies about abortion are heard, not just the deceptive rubbish that Snapchat and Teen Vogue continue to produce that make it seem like a joking matter. Because abortion is not love, it is not compassion, it is not healing, it is most definitely not selfless. We need to make sure that this simple reality is known to everyone in our community. Not in a month, not in a week, but now. This is our fight.”
From Jamie’s speech:
“The world has lost 7 million lives over the past two years due to COVID-19, according to the World Health Organization, shocking the world with fear, and causing immense pain and loss. But that’s nothing, W.H.O. also records a massacre of about 73 million that occurs worldwide each and every year. Occurring quietly under the radar, this genocide is abortion. Abortion is a controversial topic, a debate of ethics and morals, of life versus convenience. Addressing abortion is important for determining personal beliefs, knowing who you are, and who we are as a society.”
From Quinten’s speech:
“And that’s our problem. When you get into an argument with someone who’s pro-choice it’s easy to call them baby-killers and it’s so easy for them to call you a misogynist because those are the buzz words, and you know that saying that will make them feel bad. But the truth is I don’t wake up every morning scheming ways to control a woman and pro-choice people don’t wake up every morning and say I can’t wait to kill a baby… but that’s what we both say to the other and were accomplishing nothing.”