Editor’s note: This is the second installment in “Unveiling UT,” a series in which The Horn spotlights the organizations which make the UT community unique. This time we are featuring Horns for Life, a pro life organization at UT. You can learn more about them on their website.
Amber Williams: Can you start by introducing yourself to our readers?
Mya Olson: Yes. My name is Mya Olson. I’m a second year student here at the University of Texas at Austin. My major is Health Promotion and Behavioral Science.
Amber Williams: What is your role in Horns for Life?
Mya Olson: This year, I am the president of Horns for Life.
Amber Williams: What is Horns for Life and what is its core purpose?
Mya Olson: Horns for Life is a pro-life student organization at the University of Texas. We exist to affirm the fundamental dignity and equal value of all human lives at all stages and in all circumstances.
Amber Williams: How did you become involved in this club?
Mya Olson: It’s my second year. I was a freshman last year, and I’ve always been passionate about the pro-life movement. I saw this club,and I saw what it was doing. I wanted to be a part of it,and I wanted to help grow it. I really love what the club does for the community through their scholarship, which I’ll probably talk more about later on, and through volunteering.
Amber Williams: Yeah, well, I’m looking forward to getting into that later. First, when and where does Horns for Life meet?
Mya Olson: We meet weekly–every Tuesday. Each semester changes where we meet. We meet in a classroom right now. We’re in Mezzes.
Amber Williams: What happens at each meeting?
Mya Olson: We all get together, we normally go over announcements, and we typically bring in different guest speakers to talk about various pro-life topics or we do different socials just to hang out and get to know the club members better.
Amber Williams: What are some past speakers you’ve had?
Mya Olson: Depending on the topic, we try to pull people from the community or other organizations. We’ve had speakers from Texas Right to Life come and talk about the legal aspects of the laws around abortion. We’ve brought in doctors to talk about when life begins, and we’ve also had topics about what abortion is and what goes on in those procedures. We’ve also had speakers come and give personal testimonies about what they went through when they had their abortion and how they overcame that–which has been really inspiring. We’ve also had people come in and talk about adoption and how beautiful that was in their life. It’s really a wide range of topics,and we try to pull from different communities and organizations.
Amber Williams: Can you talk about your volunteer opportunities?
Mya Olson: Yes. This year, we are planning to volunteer at local pregnancy resource centers. We have an event setup with the Trotter House, which is located in West Campus. We’re actually doing that today. That’s really awesome because we want to support mothers in the local community, and the Trotter House is a great resource for women. They provide free services so that they can bring a child into this world.
Amber Williams: Well, good luck with that volunteer opportunity. How would you say Horns for Life relates to the national pro-life movement?
Mya Olson: I guess because we believe that all human life has value, we want to value human life,we want to spread the knowledge about that,and to reach people and have open conversations about why we want to value human life. I guess it just goes with the movement because we’re trying to save lives.
Amber Williams: I know there’s been recent controversy over the pushback of Roe V. Wade. Has that overturning impacted your organization in any way?
Mya Olson: If anything, it may force us to shift in a way because now that it’s overturned, we really want to put a focus and emphasis on helping and supporting the mothers and students within our community. Because we know just being a student, it’s challenging enough. On top of that, we know being pregnant, being a mother already or being a parent can add even more challenges. So, as a club, one of the main things we do is we have a pregnant or parenting student scholarship. Throughout the year, we fundraise for that scholarship so that we can support those pregnant and parenting students. We know it’s not going to solve all the issues, but we know it’s a tangible way to help support them financially. So that’s one thing. Really, our club has shifted towards how we can put more action behind what we believe and how we can support children in the womb, but also their mothers and the situations that they face. We just want to be a light on campus for that, and we just want to be out there and help out as much as we can through the scholarship and volunteering.
Amber Williams: Where do you see Horns for Life in the next five years?
Mya Olson: I hope that we continue just moving forward in trying to help where help is needed. I hope we continue our scholarship. I hope that we can increase our fundraising so that we can help even more students and give more money. I hope that we can volunteer at more places within the community at pregnancy resource centers,adoption centers, and various other places. I hope we can be a club where students feel like they can come to us if they are in a situation where they have an unexpected pregnancy or they just need help and resources. I hope that we can be a club that is open,loving, and accepting and that people feel like they have found a place where they can find help with that. Obviously there’s other topics that go in with the pro-life movement and I’m sure that as we move forward, we’ll continue to discuss those other topics, but ,right now, with Roe being overturned we really just want to put the focus on helping women who find themselves in unexpected pregnancies and other situations.
Amber Williams: Where can students find out more information about your club?
Mya Olson: So on our instagram, @texashornsforlife and we have a website as well.
Amber Williams: Well, thank you for your time Mya.
