{"id":341831,"date":"2026-06-01T19:50:24","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:50:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/341831\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T19:50:24","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T19:50:24","slug":"student-champions-pro-life-cause-wins-elusive-essay-contest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/341831\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Champions Pro-Life Cause, Wins Elusive Essay Contest"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\"\"Eighth grader Connor Whiffin (last student to the right) of Long Beach Catholic Regional School (pictured with fellow finalists and contest sponsor Robert Doherty next to him) won this year\u2019s Pro-Life Oratory Contest on his third try, with an essay filled with scripture he hopes to one day carry to the March for Life in Washington. (Photo: Long Beach Catholic Regional School)<\/p>\n

The third\u00a0time\u2019s\u00a0a\u00a0charm\u00a0for\u00a0Connor Whiffin.\u00a0After not placing two years in a row, the Long Beach Catholic Regional School eighth grader\u00a0was one of four\u00a0winners\u00a0of the school\u2019s\u00a0essay competition, the\u00a0Pro-Life Oratory Contest. He wrote on why life in the womb is sacred and how to value human life.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The annual contest was sponsored by pro-life advocate Robert Doherty. Each of the four winners received a $500 scholarship prize.\u00a0Connor also got to read his essay at a\u00a0school Mass on April 29.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I found out that I\u00a0actually won\u00a0the whole thing,\u00a0I was\u00a0very proud\u00a0of myself,\u201d he said.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With this submission, Connor said he\u00a0spent a week on research, leaning heavily on Scripture to develop\u00a0an\u00a0argument that he felt could stand.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Going\u00a0through the Book of Exodus,\u00a0Connor\u00a0found\u00a0the\u00a0passage that\u00a0anchors\u00a0his essay. The passage describes\u00a0an ancient law that\u00a0said\u00a0if two men\u00a0who\u00a0are\u00a0fighting injured a pregnant woman and the child was\u00a0killed,\u00a0both men would be put to death.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was teaching me that life was equal in the womb\u00a0and\u00a0outside the womb,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

RELATED: 10th Annual Gift of Life Walk Brings Pro-Life Witness to \u2018Canyon of Heroes\u2019\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Through\u00a0his research, Connor said he\u00a0also\u00a0learned\u00a0that\u00a0under\u00a0federal law, destroying the egg of a bald eagle carries criminal penalties. He questions why the law\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0extend the same protections to unborn life.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey don\u2019t look at it the same as babies in the womb \u2014 other animals like an eagle \u2014 as they do to a human,\u201d he said. \u201cI was\u00a0shocked. That was crazy.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

For now,\u00a0Connor\u2019s\u00a0pro-life advocacy\u00a0is\u00a0mostly\u00a0confined to\u00a0the classroom, but\u00a0he\u00a0said\u00a0he sees a more public role for himself down the road.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

He\u00a0also\u00a0hopes to attend\u00a0the March\u00a0for Life in Washington.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI would love to do that when I\u2019m older,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eighth grader Connor Whiffin (last student to the right) of Long Beach Catholic Regional School (pictured with fellow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341832,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[131,133,132],"class_list":["post-341831","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-long-beach","tag-long-beach","tag-long-beach-headlines","tag-long-beach-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341831","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341831"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341831\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341831"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341831"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341831"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}