‘If you’re truly Pro-Life, 
now is the time to step up!’

Declan, a dedicated member of the Project Truth team from Glasgow speaks about the reality of being actively prolife, why he’s prolife and how Project Truth is impacting our youth in a positive way.

Have you always been prolife?

Yes, although I was passively prolife in school – I had the beliefs, but I wouldn’t ever intervene in a conversation.  When I started studying philosophy, I began to research it more and started to get stuck into the debates.

What was the turning point from being prolife by belief to acting upon it?

It was never an ‘ah ha!’ moment but more of a gradual thing.  When I was studying philosophy at university every argument that we had for being prolife I thought was really strong which gave me more confidence to speak about it.  Around that time the opportunity for Project Truth sprung up and I just gave it a go – I’ve been doing it for three years now.

How would you describe Project Truth?

Project Truth is excellent! There’s an annual roadshow every August and we travel around to the different cities and towns in Scotland. We simply stop people in the street and ask them their opinion.  We also have surveys for them to fill out and from there a conversation sparks – it’s all about finding out what people think about abortion.  You don’t know what you’ve got in you until you’re put in that situation and Project Truth is an amazing opportunity to do that.

Have you ever faced any challenges whilst taking part in these events?

Yes, I would definitely say there are challenges of course, people walk past and utter something unpleasant or snarly to you sometimes, but you just have to brush it off.  It’s actually a great way to start a conversation. I’d always reply with ‘can you tell me why you think that?’ and usually it gets people talking.  The challenges are a reminder to me of how much work needs to be done.

It gets brought up a lot that all prolifers are religious – do you think you’d be prolife regardless?

I’d certainly like to think so because in every argument I’ve had I haven’t needed to bring up God or religious beliefs.  If you had to bring up religion to defend the prolife position, then athiests could just ignore it but fortunately both religion and science support the pro-life position.

Have you had any stand-out moments during Project Truth?

Last year there were three girls walking past our stand and I stopped them to ask what their opinion on abortion was. They were very straight talking and said “actually we’re prochoice girls” so I asked them why and we got into a great conversation about it. I don’t know whether I changed their opinion completely but at the end of our chat one girl thanked me for telling them the truth about the issue, she said that no one ever talks about this sort of stuff and that they really appreciated it – that sticks out in my mind, I’d never had a thank you before!

What would you say to young people to help them get involved?

Project Truth will unlock your best self.  It will make you more courageous – everybody is nervous at first, it’s only natural, but standing up for what you believe in will give you the courage you need. Getting involved in the prolife movement will make you feel like you can walk through walls, it brings out the best in you and at this moment in time it’s a fight that needs to be fought.  If you believe in the prolife stance, it’s time to step up!

**********************************************************************************

Project Truth are working on a new scheme called Project Truth Pods which has just been piloted in Malta! These arepre-existing or newly established groups who have been trained and certified by Project Truth HQ to do street outreach using the Project Truth branding and materials.

A group can invite Project Truth HQ to train them to hold outreach sessions in their own town, city or even university campus (where possible). Keep an eye on their social media if you’re interested in establishing a group in your area – more information will be available soon.