Kristan Hawkins, President of Students for Life of America and Students for Life Action, was in the middle of her campus tour at the University of Montana when she received devastating news: her friend Charlie Kirk had been shot during his own event at Utah Valley University. Hawkins paused the debate to share the heartbreaking news with the pro-abortion students she was engaging with. Instead of showing sympathy, the students began to laugh.
This is the callous response of pro-choice students at the University of Montana when I told them my friend Charlie Kirk had been shot.
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) September 11, 2025
It was horrific. I share this because evil must be exposed in our nation, now more than ever. We may be at one of the lowest points in our… pic.twitter.com/1QFpG754AX
"Why are you laughing?!" Hawkins asked, horrified at the students' reaction.
"If you think shooting Charlie Kirk is justified because you disagree with his political opinions, you need to study your heart," she said. Hawkins pressed the students, asking if they had also laughed when presidential candidate Donald Trump was shot at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. One student shouted back without hesitation: “Hell yeah!”
"This is what abortion culture has done in our country," Hawkins said.
As I also stood on a college campus, I was horrified to learn that my friend Charlie Kirk had been shot. Our nation is in crisis when speaking up for preborn children and for love of country leads to violence, and that’s clearly on the rise.
But when I learned about this evil act while having conversations with students in Missoula at the University of Montana and told them what had happened, the 150+ students who had gathered to debate me laughed. My heart is breaking for my friend but also for my country, where common decency has been sacrificed and to many lives thrown away. More than 150 students were laughing and saying the shooting was justified. Their laughter just added to my tears.