Students for Life Action 101: Organizing a Lobby Day

Sarah Michalak, Students for Life of America Director of Programs

GUEST POST: Students for Life Action (SFLAction) works hard to earn pro-life victories through various political strategies, with one of the tools being lobby days. These grassroots mobilization efforts meet legislators where they’re at — most commonly at the state capitol where they work. 

We have scheduled Pro-Life Lobby Days in key states this year to defend life and encourage legislators to uphold the rights of all citizens – born and preborn. Sign up to join one of our lobby days, here.  

The Pro-Life Generation stands out to the political class because we are able to undeniably demonstrate the pro-life position and power of the Youth Vote (aka Gen Z and Millennials). Lobby days allow us to deliver petitions, build relationships with legislators, and put pro-life political leadership training into action! 

If you are motivated to make a tangible difference for life in the political landscape of your state, you can volunteer to host a lobby day with your peers. How do you make that happen? Learn how to lead a lobby day from the step-by-step guide below. 

READ: SFLA’s Secret Weapon: THE YOUTH VOTE Recruiting, Training, & Activating Pivotal Voters in Tight Races Nationwide  

Before the Event 

• Contact Students for Life Action for resources, lobbying materials, and state legislation information.   
  • The SFLAction Team can help with this! Contact our team at [email protected] and your Regional Coordinator at [YourState]@studentsforlife.org (for example, [email protected]).  
• Find out what the legislature’s schedule is in your state.  
  • You can typically do this by going to the state general assembly’s website, or googling “[STATE] state general assembly schedule.”  
  • You will want to find the general calendar that specifies legislative days.  
  • You can also partner with SFLAction to join an existing lobby day  
• Choose a date that both chambers are in session. 
• Inform the SFLAction Team (if you haven’t already).  
  • We can help identify key legislators (aka the most important people to meet and discuss legislation with during your lobby day); help you recruit fellow pro-lifers in your area; and provide important resources, such as a sample agenda, talking points, and print materials! 
• Reach out to Pro-Life Champions in advance, identified by SFLAction.  
  • Call the Capitol offices of these strong pro-life legislators and let them know that your group has a lobby day planned. Ask whether you can schedule a meeting with them. This allows Pro-Life Champions to incorporate you into their schedule for the day. 
• Set a clear, agenda for the day.  
  • If there are legislators you’re able to reach out to and schedule a meeting with in advance, do so, and create an agenda for your participants. 
  • Set aside time to deliver your materials to the offices of legislators, even if you are unable to schedule a time to meet with them. 
  • Set aside time for speakers, like pro-life bill sponsors, if you have any who are going to speak to your group. 
  • Set aside time for participants to make sure they stop in the offices of their own legislators, or to visit these offices as a group.   
  • The agenda should include your start time, lunch time, time to distribute materials to offices, and previously scheduled meetings with legislators. 
• Invite your pro-life friends and neighboring groups to your lobby day. 
• Practice and share strategic talking points with your fellow attendees. 
  • They should be concise, data driven, and address your key issues.  
  • You don’t need to talk about every pro-life/pro-abortion bill; only discuss the key legislation in your state and focus on those talking points.  
• Create lobby day packets for your attendees, which should include: 
  • Key legislation talking points. 
  • SFLAction 2024-2025 Legislative Packet – when you reach out to our team at [email protected] and [email protected], for example, [email protected], you will receive our SFLAction Legislative Packet as well as flyers and letters to distribute to legislators while lobbying.  
  • Flyers and letters on key legislation to leave with legislators. You’ll want to print enough flyers for each legislator you’re meeting with and enough letters for each student to sign their own. In our kits, we also include a letter from SFLAction President Kristan Hawkins; you only need one of these per legislator. 
  • A map of the state legislature/offices. 
  • Plans for your group’s lunch. Will you be going somewhere off campus? Will you be ordering/bringing food for the group? Make sure you’ve allocated enough time for travel if you plan to walk to a lunch spot. 
  • A travel plan for your group. Will you be carpooling separately? How will you get to the Capitol? If a student is traveling far, tell them to keep gas receipts for potential reimbursement from SFLAction.

During the Event 

• Ensure all participants sign in on your sign-in sheet. 
• Take quality photos/video with Pro-Life Champion legislators.  
  • Tag @studentsforlifeaction on your Instagram Stories on social media, as well.
  • Introduction: “Hey Pro-Life Gen, my name is _______ , and I’m with students from [Students for Life of America group name]. We’re part of almost [number] of pro-life groups in [the state], here at the [event] in [location]!”  
  • Explanation: “We’re here today to/because…”, “in opposition of ___ which does ___…” 
  • Wrap Up: Share any encouraging or crazy stories from the day. 
  • Make sure to check in on Stories throughout the event with your audience. 
  • Showcase your energy — whether excitement or determination. 
  • Have students in the background, holding SFLA signs (if possible). 
  • Put your city and state at the top using the location feature! 
  • If you don’t have any participants (or just a few) accompanying you, you should still try your best to get selfies! 
• Inform SFLAction Team immediately (and film if able) if you encounter any confrontational people that vandalize your materials or threaten you.  
  • Your safety is paramount. We recommend also filming after-the-fact to explain what happened.  
  • This could be used by our legal team and potentially posted to SFLAction social media channels. 
• Take notes during or in between your meetings with legislators and their staff.  
  • It is imperative to keep track of WHO (which offices) you left materials with, HOW MANY you met with, and WHAT materials you left with them and whether they support or oppose the legislation you discussed with them.  
  • Additionally, if any offices express interest in SFLAction’s model legislation, please note that so the SFLAction Team can also follow up. 
• Stick together.  
  • In most cases, if time permits, you want to travel through the offices as a group.  
  • If you need to split up for any reason, try to stay in at least pairs of two to prevent anyone getting lost or otherwise having issues.

After the Event 

• Within a few hours of the event, submit notes, sign-in sheets, photos, and videos to the SFLAction Team.  
  • If possible, please also take time to write your experience on the lobby day for a blog — this could be as short as a paragraph! 
• Share your photos and videos online.  
  • Make sure to tag legislators on their state official pages; @studentsforlifeaction on Instagram, Threads, and Facebook; and @SFLAction on Twitter.