Pro-life youth award winner says ‘we need to be there’ for the vulnerable

Emily Taylor, a 16-year-old-member of Holy Spirit Parish in Indianapolis, receives the archdiocesan Our Lady of Guadalupe Pro-Life Youth Award from Msgr. William F. Stumpf, archdiocesan vicar general, at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis on Oct. 1. (Photo by Natalie Hoefer)

By Natalie Hoefer

When Emily Taylor of Holy Spirit Parish in Indianapolis started high school two years ago, she knew what group she wanted to join.

But she was going to have to create the group, because her school, Herron High School in Indianapolis, had no such club.

“I knew I wanted to start it going in as a freshman, so I signed my name at the Right to Life [of Indianapolis] booth at the state fair for help” in August of 2015.

Two years later, after receiving some initial attacks from her peers, Emily has successfully developed and persevered with the Teens for Life Club.

For her efforts, Emily, 16, was awarded the archdiocesan Office of Pro-Life and Family Life’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Pro-Life Youth Award at the annual Respect Life Sunday Mass at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis on Oct. 1.

When she noticed Emily had expressed interest in starting a Teens for Life group, Right to Life of Indianapolis director of programming Mary Dougherty contacted her and helped her find a faculty sponsor at Herron.

“It’s harder in a public school,” Dougherty says of forming such a club. It was amazing, she says, “for a freshman to do something like that and feel confident doing that.”

Eventually, Emily connected with Jane Hagenauer, registrar and advising coordinator at Herron. Hagenauer happened to also be Catholic and a member of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Indianapolis.

“The timing of it was tricky in the beginning because it was when the state government was trying to push through some more restrictive legislation in terms of abortion rights,” Hagenauer recalls. “The first challenge was not with the administration—they have been very supportive. But not all of her peers were on board.”

Emily recalls how, when she put signs up promoting the club, “that’s when people got angry.

“All of my signs were defaced, all of them were torn down, even though the faculty was very supportive. It’s just the students that were saying my rights didn’t matter.

“It was a hard road. But I just kept putting the signs up.”

At the group’s first meeting, several people “from the other side” of the pro‑life issue attended, challenging Emily and asking her questions.

“I think when they found out what the [Teens for Life] group was actually doing, they felt a little better,” she says. “There are still things people post on social media, but I think in the end, with all the hate going on, everything is worth it if you’re advocating for life and standing up for life.”

The group now meets once a month during the school year, with usually about 10 in attendance. Meetings often feature speakers discussing some aspect of the pro-life spectrum.

“We’ve had speakers come in, and we’ve learned about the Safe Haven law, about baby boxes, watched videos of pre-natal development. We had a speaker come in from He Knows Your Name, which gives burials for aborted babies or babies that have been abandoned. We have a speaker coming to talk about euthanasia.”

The Teens for Life group also operates a drive collecting items for Birthline, an archdiocesan ministry which serves women in crisis pregnancies.

“She does all the work, plans all the meetings and speakers and volunteer time—I’m just the [school] liaison,” says Hagenauer, who calls Emily an “amazing young woman.”

Emily’s passion for the pro-life cause comes from several influential family members.

While she attributes much of her pro‑life drive to her parents, John and Lisa Taylor of Holy Spirit Parish, she also credits her aunt, Mary Fischer of Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis, with taking her to pro-life Masses and Life Chain events.

However, her “biggest role model is probably my grandmother, who passed away when I was 8,” Emily says. “She was involved in the cause her whole life. She did sidewalk counseling, 40 Days for Life, special Masses. I know she’d be so proud of me, leading on her legacy.”

When asked what drives her passion for the pro-life cause, Emily says she feels that “every single person living should be valued and advocated for from conception to natural death. …We have to advocate for [those who are vulnerable], to be the voice that says they matter and deserve quality of life like anyone else.

“Just because they’re not out of the womb and can’t fend for themselves, or just because they’re old or disabled and people think they don’t matter, they do. They’re important no matter what their age. We need to be there for them.” †