HONORING LIFE

SHAPING HEARTS

A cultural education program of the Ohio Christian Education Network, the Hartshorn Dignity of Life Award celebrates schools discipling students in a biblical view of the sanctity of life.

For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

Psalm 139:13

Anchor 1

The Bottom Line

THE ROOT

OF THE ISSUE

Significant percentages of Christian school alumni voted FOR placing a protected right to abortion for almost any reason in the Ohio constitution.

55%

Catholic

31%

Evangelical

PRO-LIFERS ARE AGING

The only age demographic to have a majority vote AGAINST Issue 1 was 65+. In contrast, 77% of the 18-25 age group voted to pass it.

The passage of Issue 1 in 2023 entrenched the right to an abortion in Ohio. We now live in a state where a child can be aborted for almost any reason, even up until birth.

The Vital Signs report commissioned by Center for Christian Virtue (CCV) immediately after the election indicates why Christian schools must engage on this issue.

If we hope to overturn Issue 1 and return Ohio to a place where the pre-born are protected, Christian schools must make the dignity of life an explicit part of their worldview instruction.

Recognition

RECOGNITION

Each year, all recipients will receive the following recognitions from OCEN:

Award plaque with the year and level.
Stage recognition at CCV's Essential Summit in October.
Media recognition at each CCV Gala.
Press release to their local media.
A digital seal indicating your school is a Hartshorn Award winner that you can use for marketing and promotion.

SILVER

Schools achieving Silver Level will adopt
the Statement on the Dignity of Life, send
a student delegation to the Ohio March for
Life in Columbus, and complete at least one of the following:

• Provide at least one hour of pro-life staff training.

• Host a pro-life speaker program over at least three days.

• Participate in a event sponsored by a local pro-life group.

• Establish a fetal development instructional track in their health curriculum.

• Organize a pregnancy center student service opportunity.

• Establish an on-campus “Students for Life” club.

• Other programs may qualify based on prior discussions between OCEN and the school.

View the Statement on the Dignity of Life

How It Works

HOW IT WORKS

Complete the requirements within a year

Apply Online

Await our staff reviewal process

Receive your plaque and recognition

From the Hartshorns

A MESSAGE FROM

THE HARTSHORNS

Mike and Peggy Hartshorn

When we were newlyweds over 50 years ago, I (Peggy) was shocked to hear the Roe v. Wade decision announced on the car radio. And so, on January 22, 1973, we both felt called to our life-long work in the mission field created by legalized abortion. God later used our unexpected infertility to solidify our call: we were blessed to adopt our two children as infants because their mothers chose life rather than the new “right” to abortion.

When we as a married couple said yes to God’s call to “do something” about abortion, we first thought it was all about innocent unborn babies. However, we realized that it is also about motherhood, fatherhood, and families as we started housing pregnant women in our home in 1975 and working closely with other women in the midst of crisis pregnancies, women who made adoption plans, and women who had abortions.

Our call is about providing God’s hope and healing and preventing more suffering by sharing God’s loving plan for each person and for the family. Through five decades, we have witnessed how God calls, provides, blesses, strengthens, and heals, all through ordinary people like us—people in families, churches, faith-based schools, and pro-life, pro-family organizations like Center for Christian Virtue (CCV).

We are honored that CCV has chosen to add our name to this award which singles out faith-based schools that are so essential in teaching, by word and deed, the dignity of each child.