The Walking Miracle

Spina bifida is a medical condition that affects the spine and nerves for newborn babies like James Christophersen, now 26, and about 1,500 babies each year.

Doctors told James’ mother that she should end his life before it began. If allowed to survive, they said, James would not walk on his own or even live to adulthood.

Now, more than two decades later, James is a conservative leader fighting against the very same mindset in today’s medical community.

James works at Students for Life of America as the director of Med Students for Life and Law Students for Life.

James connects physicians who understand the sanctity of life with thousands of med students at more than 100 campuses across the country.

“I hope to abolish abortion by eliminating the lazy attitude which allows physicians to casually discard children they are afraid they cannot help, and to inspire those same physicians to instead acknowledge the humanity of those children,” James said.

He works as a director of the National Pro-Life Physician Speaking Tour, the flagship program of Students for Life of America. This program allows doctors to speak to students about the importance of “giving children a chance” and “taking on the hard cases,” as James puts it.

Before working at Student for Life, James worked for almost three years as the executive director of the Judicial Action Group, an organization that works through accountability, appointments, and prayer for the return of the judiciary to its proper, and noble, role of deciding cases and not legislating from the bench.

“By returning the judiciary to its proper role of deciding cases and not legislating from the bench, the Judicial Action Group will re-empower Congress, the States, and the People to make laws that favor life, marriage, decency, private property, religious freedom, and other vital American values,” their website states.

James attended the Leadership Institute’s High-Dollar Fundraising School in September of 2011 and several LI events and networking activities in the past several years. The LI fundraising training focused on the importance of building coalitions to advance the candidates and causes of each attendee’s choice, and for James, the pro-life cause.

The faculty taught attendees to think past previously-established boundaries and to find unlikely allies to advance their particular cause or campaign.

“This principle (of identifying unlikely allies) helped separate me from many in the political movements I have formerly participated in,” James said.

Learn these techniques and others at LI’s next High-Dollar Fundraising School February 18 and 19. So register now by contacting Carol Wehe.

“The Leadership Institute is widely known as the place for conservative political candidates and non-profit employees to up their game,” James said.

Please congratulate James Christophersen on his work to advance the pro-life cause among physicians, and please applaud him for receiving the Leadership Institute’s Conservative Leader-In-Training Award.

You can follow James on Twitter @ChristophersenJ and his organization @

To nominate a Leadership Institute graduate or faculty member for the Conservative Leader Award or Conservative Leader-In-Training Award, please contact LI's Director of External Affairs Lauren Day, at Lauren@LeadershipInstitute.org.