By Peggy Savage
Activism – and particularly student activism – has been in the news a lot recently.
Pro-life student Marcos Sanchez, 17, took action to put his cause in the spotlight April 11. He stood alone in front of John F. Kennedy High School in Mount Angel after walking out of school to protest abortion.
He didn’t stand alone for long, however. Sanchez was joined by his mother and members of a family who had come to show their support for the cause.
After Sanchez walked out the front doors of the school at precisely 10 a.m. he stood on the sidewalk on East Marquam Street. He was joined by his mother, Angela, and Michelle Valladares and her children, Isabel, 14, Maria, 11, Benjamin, 9, Sarah, 6, and two-year-old friend, Eliana.
“We are standing here for 900 seconds, to symbolize the 900 unborn babies aborted every day in the U.S.,” Sanchez said. “And also, 15 minutes is a quarter of an hour, and missing from the halls of today’s high schools is one fourth of this generation.”
Participating in a nationwide effort to call for support of student mothers and to oppose abortion, Sanchez joined students from across the country in the Prolife Walkout.
“We are walking out to raise awareness of the cruel practices that happen every day through abortion,” Sanchez said. “We demand action to be taken to defund Planned Parenthood and reallocate taxpayer money to federally qualified health centers.”
A Kennedy High School senior, Sanchez is president and founder of JFK for Life. He said it is a 40-member club at the school, which has an enrollment of less than 200 students.
Sanchez said Principal Sean Aker gave permission to hold the event, but Aker reportedly said that he would neither encourage nor discourage the walkout.
“I know this is the right thing to do, and I know I have to speak out and create awareness,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said that he was not expecting a large turnout, due in part to the school’s penalty for students participating in the walkout, which would result in one unexcused class absence.
“If athletes receive an unexcused class absence, that means they can’t participate in the day’s game, and that’s holding most athletes back from participating,” he said. “And at JFK, a lot of students participate in sports. Also, I don’t think a lot of students want to stick their necks out. It takes some guts to stand out there and take a position on a controversial topic. Some students are also indifferent about abortion. They don’t see that it affects them; they say they are pro-life, but they don’t take action. Being pro-life means taking action.”
His mother said Sanchez decided to start the club after attending Camp Joshua, a camp for pro-life high school students sponsored by Oregon Right to Life.
“I am so proud of him,” she said, noting that her son holds strong convictions that abortion is wrong and that standing up for unborn children is the right thing to do.
