Pro-life youth award winner felt called to be ‘voice of the pro-life movement’

Eric Dessauer smiles as he receives the archdiocese’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Pro-Life Youth Award presented to him by Archbishop Charles C. Thompson during the Respect Life Sunday Mass in SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis on Oct. 2. (Photo by Natalie Hoefer)

By Natalie Hoefer

High school junior Eric Dessauer got involved with pro-life activities during his sophomore year at Bishop Chatard High School in Indianapolis.

His efforts in just one year led to Eric receiving the archdiocese’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Pro-Life Youth Award at SS. Peter and Paul Cathedral in Indianapolis on Oct. 2.

(Related story: ‘Rejoice in hope’ but ‘remain vigilant,’ archbishop says at Respect Life Mass)

“My parents were always pro-life,” said Eric, 17. “For me, it really started when my dad ran for a state office in 2010. I got into politics like my dad. As that grew, my conservative values grew, and one of those is obviously the pro-life stance.”

When he experienced some opposition to those views his freshman year, Eric did not lose heart.

Instead, he said, he felt “inspired, because I saw that [the pro-life stance] needed to be studied more. The opposite information influenced my generation with social media.”

Eric felt called to be “the voice of the pro-life movement while others supported abortion or just said nothing.”

He said due to the effects of COVID-19 in 2020, the school’s pro-life club had for the most part become inactive.

While attending the Right to Life of Indianapolis Celebrate Life dinner last October, Eric met Mary Carmen Zakrajsek, the Great Lakes regional coordinator for Students for Life of America.

Later, he and a friend “reached out to her and expressed an interest in starting a [pro-life] club, because she helps grow clubs all over Indiana,” Eric recalled. They soon became co-presidents of Chatard’s pro-life student group.

During the school’s pro-life week in January, the club focused on raising awareness of the effects of abortion “because it’s killing generations,” said Eric.

They invited Zakrajsek to speak on the topic to the student body, filled the school lawn with crosses representing the nearly 65 million lives lost to abortion between 1973-2021 (according to the National Right to Life Educational Foundation), offered a pro-life apologetics training and participated in the Mass and Indiana March for Life and Rally in Indianapolis on Jan. 24.

Eric was also inspired by participating in his first National March for Life in Washington in January.

“It helped me see just how much the pro-life movement had grown,” he said. “At a conference the next day, there were a lot of teens who shared my views and the struggles of having to deal with being the minority in our views.

“It really inspired me. It helped me realize my voice and the impact I can make, that my voice can influence five, 10 or even just one person, and that person can influence another.”

He said he also realized his power “as a person with dwarfism, having a voice for the disabled and speaking out and saying, ‘We’re not OK with the discrimination. We’re an image of God and his creativity.’ ”

Zakrajsek was one of those who nominated Eric for the pro-life youth award.

“He is amazing, dedicated, resilient and humble,” she wrote.

She recounted how, in May, Eric attended a pro-life rally in Indianapolis and posted about the event on social media.

“One post in particular drew over 2,000 comments, mostly from pro-abortion activists,” she noted. “He was severely bullied, harassed and even threatened for his pro-life beliefs, but remained strong!”

While Eric is registered with his family at Christ the King Parish in Indianapolis, he often worships at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Parish in Carmel, Ind., in the Lafayette Diocese. The church is near Guérin Catholic High School in Noblesville, Ind. (also in the Lafayette Diocese), where he started as a junior this semester.

Only a student for a few months at Guerin Catholic, Eric is already co-president of the school’s pro-life club.

“It’s an honor” to receive the Our Lady of Guadalupe Pro-Life Youth Award, he said. “I never thought I’d get an award like this. It’s humbling to know that people appreciate my work.”

But Eric also noted that he is not active in the pro-life movement “for anyone’s appreciation. I’m doing it because I believe it’s an extremely important cause.” †