Katelyn, Andy and Ryan

Katelyn Sills is a treasure. So is Andy Nevis. So is Ryan Clark Holiday. They are my colleagues at the Western Alliance of Bloggers and they are young: Katelyn and Andy are 15 and Ryan is 18. But when it comes to blogging they are not kids. Their writing is brilliant, insightful and heartfelt. You can find Katelyn at her blog Stand Up and Speak Out, Andy at California High School Conservative and Ryan at Ryan Clark Holiday.com.

Katelyn is a sophomore at an all-girls Catholic school in Sacramento and is involved in the Pro-life Club, the Book Club, the Robotics club, Mock Trial, and Choir. She sings and plays guitar and lives on an organic farm.

Andy is a sophomore at a public high school in Sacramento. He says it is a mystery how he became a conservative, but that “If there is a political gene, I certainly must have it.” Andy is a founding member of our Western Alliance group blog.

Ryan is a freshman at the University of California: Riverside, studying Political Science and is a prolific writer. Like most writers, Ryan is a reader: “Books fuel my existence in conjunction with daily bouts of news, talk radio, magazines and sitcoms.”

As a sample of their amazing writing I chose a piece by Katelyn that recently won an award in a pro-life essay contest hosted by Catholics for Life. Here are a few excerpts. Please read the entire thing at Stand Up and Speak Out.

How Abortion Hurts Women’s Equality and Degrades Individual Women

Today, abortion has been championed as “a woman’s right” and described as a “liberty” by the United States Supreme Court. On January 22, 1973, in the Roe vs. Wade decision, the Supreme Court struck down individual state abortion laws and made abortion legal up until the time of birth in all fifty states. The Supreme Court says that “Roe is an integral part of a correct understanding of both the concept of liberty and the basic equality of men and women.” Yet, our country is slowly realizing that this may not be true. Abortion hurts women’s equality and degrades all women. In this essay, I will explain how women, as a result of on-demand abortion, are seen as inferior to men and how in actuality, it is the pro-abortion attitude that impairs women both born and unborn. This impairment does not only affect women who have abortions, but all women, those in the past, present and future.

In the last hundred years, women have seen enormous progress in gaining equal rights with men, only to have abortion destroy many of those rights and liberties. Women suffragists led the campaign for women’s rights, and the vast majority of these women were very strongly anti-abortion. Elizabeth Cady Stanton said that “When we consider that women are treated as property, it is degrading to women that we should treat our children as property to be disposed of as we wish.”

However, many “modern feminists” have moved away from this abhorrence of abortion. Dr. Joycelyn Elders, a former U.S. Surgeon General, said, "We really need to get over this love affair with the fetus...” and the National Organization of Women’s rallying cry is “My Body, My Choice.” Now, unfortunately, women and feminism are associated with abortion, instead of against it.

Abortion, known by pro-abortionists as a woman’s right, hurts the equality of future women. It is now used as the method of eliminating unwanted females across the globe. Suppose a fourteen-year-old girl is unmarried and feeling the pressures of an unplanned pregnancy. Yet, 2000 years ago, this young woman was the mother of the Son of God. Jesus could have easily been an “unwanted” child, but Mary had the strength and courage to say “yes” to God and His gift of life.

Isn’t that beautiful? As parents and grandparents we need to tell our kids and grandkids about Katelyn, Andy and Ryan. These young people should be held up as role models.

Unfortunately, kids today are inundated with bad examples in the popular culture. Take a look at the article from the latest issue of New York Magazine: “The Cuddle Puddle of Stuyvesant High School.”

Alair is wearing a tight white tank top cut off above the hem to show her midriff. Her black cargo pants graze the top of her combat boots, and her black leather belt is studded with metal chains that drape down at intervals across her hips. Alair is headed for the section of the second-floor hallway where her friends gather every day during their free tenth period for the “cuddle puddle,” as she calls it. There are girls petting girls and girls petting guys and guys petting guys. She dives into the undulating heap of backpacks and blue jeans and emerges between her two best friends, Jane and Elle. All three have hooked up with boys—sometimes the same boys. But it’s not that they’re gay or bisexual, not exactly. Not always.

See what I mean?