Congratulations to Tess Rockafellow! The recipient of the SGM Pro Life Committee Tuition Scholarship!

Here is her essay:

When you think of the word chastity, do you think of the Pro-Life movement? Before I went on the Pro-Life March in Washington D.C., I didn't associate these words either, but once I thought about it, I realized how these two words go hand in hand. In order to live and act in a pro-life way, we must also live and act chastely. We must respect and love all life, including our own.

My pilgrimage to D.C. was eye-opening, especially when I turned around on Capitol Hill and saw the mass of people all supporting the same cause as me. Before the March, I never really thought about the pro-life message. I thought it only pertained to abortion, not to loving and respecting ourselves and others. Every night we were told how important it was to respect all life, not just the unborn. Respecting life is the most important part of living chastely.

One aspect of chastity and pro-life that I feel is often forgotten is loving and respecting yourself. This can be hard for a lot of people, even I struggle with it sometimes. It is very easy to focus on all your insecurities and forget that you are beautiful in God's eyes. It can be easy to feel worthless and like you have no purpose in life even though God created you with a specific purpose. Although you may not know what the purpose is, no life is ever accidental. This is another key reason why abortion is terrible and should be illegal.

A lot of women who get abortions say it was because the child was a "mistake." No life is ever a mistake. Regardless of whether or not you had planned for it, God has a plan for the pregnancy. God gave the baby a purpose, a purpose which may never be fulfilled if the child is denied the right to life.

Chastity can be a challenging virtue to live by, but some basic ways to include it in your life are to respect yourself, respect others, and never deny anyone the right to life.

Tess Rockafellow