Archive for the 'The Front Lines' Category

I wrote yesterday about my trip earlier this month to the Viva la Vida youth conference put on by Irish pro-life leaders Youth Defence.

While I was there for the conference, I joined Stand True Ministries‘ Bryan Kemper in leading a group of students from across Europe in some American-style pro-life activism outside the Marie Stopes abortion referral center in Dublin.

I took some video of the protest that I’m happy to share with you here. I was especially excited to meet the vibrant, motivated young people from Belgium, Germany, France, Ireland and elsewhere you’ll see in the video who were so energized to fight abortion in their homelands.

Earlier this month I had the great privilege to speak at the second annual “Viva la Vida” pro-life youth conference in Dublin, Ireland.

The conference was hosted at Griffith College by Youth Defence—one of the world’s most dynamic pro-life groups—with hundreds of pro-life youth in attendance from across Ireland and throughout Europe.

After flying through the night from Chicago, I arrived in Dublin the morning of Friday, November 5 with just enough time to snatch a quick one-hour nap before meeting Crossroads’ Dave Bathon and a group of young pro-lifers from Belgium in the lobby of my hotel.

International Protest at Marie Stopes Abortion Referral Center

Together we walked two miles to a protest at the Marie Stopes abortion referral center, where we met up with the regular prayer warriors at the facility. Abortion is illegal in Ireland, but Marie Stopes arranges package deals for Irish women to get abortions in England and the Netherlands. (more…)

If you’ve ever found yourself wondering why so many people who are pro-life aren’t more involved in pro-life activities, there is often a very simple explanation:

Because they haven’t been invited.

A recent post on the Students for Life of Illinois blog — titled “The Power of an Invitation” — illustrates exactly that:

It was not until a friend at the University of Illinois invited me to pray outside an abortion clinic that the words “pro-life” actually took meaning in my life. Seeing the women my age enter Planned Parenthood wearing baggy clothes one Friday morning hit me with a wave of compassion and sorrow. It brought the pro-life movement from an abstract ideal to a reality in my life with a face and a story.

Knowing the importance of my generation taking a stand for life, I made it a personal goal to invite the women I mentor on campus to join me in the pro-life campaign happening now in Indianapolis.

Last week, I invited Tessa to go pray with me outside Planned Parenthood during our weekly discipleship time. (more…)

Next week, a great pro-life event begins in over 200 cities across the country: the 40 Days for Life prayer campaign.

From September 22nd through October 31st, 40 Days for Life prayer vigils will be held outside abortion clinics in 238 locations in the U.S., Canada, Australia, England, Northern Ireland and Denmark.

This will be the seventh ever 40 Days for Life campaign, and the results of the first six have been amazing:

• MORE THAN 350,000 PEOPLE of all ages have joined togetherto pray and fast for an end to abortion
• At least 2,811 BABIES HAVE BEEN SAVED from abortion—and those are just the ones we know about
• 35 abortion workers have QUIT THEIR JOBS and walked away from the abortion industry
• Six abortion facilities COMPLETELY SHUT DOWN following local 40 Days for Life campaigns

And this fall’s 40 Days will be the biggest one yet — more babies will be saved, more parents will be spared a lifetime of regrets, and more abortion workers will have their hearts touched and leave their jobs.

I hope you won’t want to miss the chance to take part in this historic pro-life prayer campaign. You can find the 40 Days site nearest you here.

September 14 will always hold a special place in the hearts of both my wife, Jocelyn, and me. On this day, 8 years ago, we had our first save. (For those of you unfamiliar with sidewalk counseling, a “save” happens when a mother, just steps away from entering a clinic where she has an abortion scheduled, decides instead to choose life for her baby.)

This was an especially fitting date for this manifestation of God’s infinite goodness, as September 14 is the feast of the Triumph of the Cross.

For several months, Jocelyn and I had gone on Saturday mornings to stand outside of an abortion clinic on Chicago’s northwest side to join others in prayer for the abortion-bound mothers, and for the sidewalk counselors who speak to them to warn them of the dangers abortion poses to them personally. (more…)

I mentioned a few weeks ago that among the hundreds of pro-lifers who participated in our Face the Truth Tour last month were dozens of teens, including members of three Chicago area pro-life clubs (Apostles for Life and Crusaders for Life, both based in Lombard, and the pro-life club at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago).

One of the members of Crusaders for Life, Alexandra Cheatham, was one of those who participated. Her reflections are included below.

Reflections on Face the Truth

By Alexandra Cheatham, Crusaders for Life

People these days are affected by pictures more then they are by words. Words go right through many people and the only way to reach them is by presenting them with something visual.

Realizing this, many of my friends and I decided to participate in Pro-Life Action League’s annual Face the Truth Tour. (more…)

Our Face the Truth Tour last week was a great success. (You can read more details about it at the additional links listed at the end of this post.)

Among the hundreds of pro-lifers who participated in this year’s Tour were dozens of teens, including members of three Chicago area pro-life clubs (Apostles for Life and Crusaders for Life, both based in Lombard, and the pro-life club at St. Ignatius College Prep in Chicago).

It was great to see so many teens jump right in and voluntarily take on some of the hard jobs — like passing out literature — and engage in (sometimes lengthy) discussions with people passing by who didn’t at all like what we were doing.

Case in point — Alex, one of the members of Crusaders for Life:

My Pro-Life Action League co-worker Corrina Gura was the one who filmed this exchange, and she wrote this on the PLAL blog earlier this week: (more…)

Stand True Director Bryan Kemper reported recently that one of his group’s pro-life T-shirts was banned at a Christian music festival in Kentucky.

The reason? It was too “offensive.”

Hearing about this reminded me of one of the objections we can expect to hear over the next few weeks, during and in the wake of our 11th annual Chicago Area Face the Truth Tour.

I mentioned in a post a couple weeks ago about our page that answers common objections to Face the Truth, but in this post I’d like to focus on one particular objection that I must admit I find it hard to get my head around. Specifically, the charge that showing graphic abortion pictures in public is uncharitable—and even un-Christian, especially because of the supposedly damaging effects it has on children.

(more…)

Our 11th annual Face the Truth Tour starts Friday, July 9 and runs through Saturday, July 17.

You can see the complete Tour schedule here.

If you’re anywhere near Chicago, join us! If not, please say some prayers for us—and, even more importantly, pray that many people’s hearts will be changed by seeing the ugly reality of abortion.

After several years of experience showing graphic abortion pictures out on the streets, we’ve gotten used to hearing complaints. That’s why we’ve posted a FAQ-type page on the Pro-Life Action League’s site that answers the most common objections we hear:

• What if children see these graphic abortion pictures?
• What effect do these pictures have on a woman who has had an abortion?
• Doesn’t the public display of graphic abortion pictures make the pro-life movement look extreme?
• Doesn’t it dishonor the unborn babies in these pictures to show them out on the street?

Our answers are here.

It was pouring rain last Saturday when my Pro-Life Action League co-worker Corrina Gura went to pray outside the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in downtown Chicago, so she wondered if any other pro-lifers would show up.

Not only were many of the regular sidewalk counselors and prayer supporters there, but so too were a group of 20 college students, many of whom are involved with a group called Totus Tuus.

While watching the video, I was very happy to see that Annie and I know two of the students Corrina spoke with: John Bishop (the first interview) was formerly part of a very active pro-life club at Dowling High School in West Des Moines, Iowa), and Sean Grismer (the last interview) was involved with Youth for Truth, which was formed in response to Planned Parenthood’s sneaking into Aurora, Illinois in 2007:

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There was an entry posted this week on The Abortioneers — a group blog whose contributors work in the abortion industry — that provides an interesting glimpse into their mindset.

As with most other entries on The Abortioneers blog, apparently its purpose is to reaffirm the belief that providing abortions is right, good, and noble. This particular post also aims to make “antis” (i.e., pro-lifers) feel as if all of our efforts are worthless:

Despite the hatred flowing out of your mouths, they have their abortions anyway. What you say, though it may upset, does not stop them from getting abortions.

“Hatred”? Please.

“…does not stop them from getting abortions”?

Watch No Greater Joy and hear interviews with three of the thousands of women who went to an abortion clinic planning to have an abortion, but then freely chose to change their minds and give birth to their babies instead. (Notice also the lack of hatred flowing out of the mouths of the sidewalk counselors.)

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Planned Parenthood has proved, once again, that they’ve only got one play in their miserable little play book. They can’t defend corrupting youth, destroying families and killing 305,310 unborn babies they kill every year. So they always resort to demonizing pro-lifers.

The latest attack comes from Planned Parenthood of East Central Iowa CEO Joe Lock. In a report from KCRG news today he raises the possibility of violence over the Pro-Life Action League’s protest of his big abortion gala this evening where Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards will speak.

Lock’s Desperate Ploy

Lock claims to have been working with police, local businesses and even the FBI to prevent any violence from disrupting his big abortion party. He says they’ve been calling attendees to assure them of their safety. (more…)

Last night’s vote passing the President’s health care overhaul in the House of Representatives was a big loss. But now that the bill has been passed, how does it change things for pro-life activists?

Not much, according to Ann Scheidler, Vice President of our parent organization, the Pro-Life Action League. And I agree with her. Check out the entry she posted today on the League’s Hotline blog.

Unborn babies are still being killed all over America today, just like they would be if the vote had gone the other way yesterday.

So our task remains the same: to save babies and their mothers from abortion and expose the horror of abortion to the American people.

As Ann says in her post, “It won’t matter if federal funds can be used to pay for abortion if we can intervene and save those babies at the clinic doors.”

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Carol Everett. Anthony Levatino. Beverly McMillan. Joan Appleton. Luhra Tivis. McArthur Hill.

What do these people have in common?

All of them used to work in the abortion industry. Doctors Levatino, McMillan, and Hill actually performed abortions themselves, Joan Appleton was an abortion clinic nurse, Carol Everett was an abortion clinic administrator, and Luhra Tivis was a medical receptionist for late-term abortionist George Tiller.

Along with many other former abortion providers, they have all spoken out publicly about how they came to be pro-life.

I thought about these former-abortion-industry-workers-turned-pro-lifers when I realized today, March 10, is the National Day of Appreciation for Abortion Providers.

What can we as pro-lifers do to counter this “Appreciation Day”? Lots of things, I suppose, but the first thing that comes to my mind is prayer.

(more…)

If I could only pick one word to describe the 2010 March for Life, it would be:

Huge.

There is always a massive crowd at the March, but several people I talked to thought that the crowd this year even larger than it usually is.

Of the many signs I saw today, I think this one was my favorite:

I’ve posted other pictures from the March here.