Special Message from Sidewalk Advocates for Life President & CEO:
Dear Friend of Life,
We are at a pivotal moment in the pro-life movement.
Here’s what’s been haunting me in prayer…
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” – Matthew 10:16
“Do you not know that the runners in the stadium all run in the race, but only one wins the prize? Run so as to win.” – 1 Corinthians 9:24
Last week, five pro-life individuals were convicted under the FACE Act for an incident in 2020 in which they allegedly used bike locks, chains, and ropes to blockade a notorious Washington DC late-term abortion facility. This Wednesday, the trial for the other four individuals involved begins. There’s a very good chance that all nine individuals will soon be sentenced to federal prison for years.
The small group conducting these law-breaking incidents in the modern era has done so under different names and with slight variations in strategy; however, they tend to enter the abortion facility, initially, in a help-oriented disposition, and once the mothers refuse their help, switch to a protest disposition, leaving police to arrest them and drag them out of the building.
These events can pause abortions for a short period of time, but former workers have told us that, typically, all women go on to have an abortion that day or reschedule their abortion. Thus far, no mother or preborn child has been rescued from abortion while the group has been inside the abortion facility.
Meanwhile, the key group behind modern-day “rescues,” Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), is promising more of this and is actively working to recruit – while, ironically, attacking the old Operation Rescue for letting go of this approach in the early 90s once the FACE Act was passed.
Last week, we at Sidewalk Advocates for Life released a statement, deeply concerned about this aggressive strategy, modern-day. We understand why people tried peaceful sit-ins in the 80s and 90s, but at the very least, the legal and psychological landscape is very different today.
Bottom line, this is not reaching those who we MUST reach to end abortion. And it’s already starting to destroy access to abortion-bound mothers and fathers, for example, in New York, where buffer zones are getting ready to go up in response to these actions – with nothing to show for it.
We are sad that anyone who has a heart to end abortion is going to jail instead of abortionists. We pray for those who are now incarcerated. We deeply appreciate their passion.
We recognize the FACE Act and buffer zones are bad law. They unnecessarily target pro-life free speech. We already have criminal and civil laws that protect people from inappropriate behavior at an abortion facility and beyond.
But if we want to effectively rescue people from abortion, we can’t put our heads in the sand and pretend that these chess pieces aren’t on the board.
What breaks my heart even more is that some individuals who participated in the rescues of the 80s and 90s went to those participating in these incidents modern-day and begged them to reconsider; they said, ironically, that they had saved more babies and closed more facilities through legal means when seeking to innovate after the FACE Act was passed.
Consider this wisdom from Joe Scheidler, known throughout our movement as “the Godfather of peaceful pro-life activism,” who helped invent sidewalk counseling; he shared an invaluable perspective in his memoir before he passed away a couple years ago:
…it’s gratifying to suffer for the unborn. But while we’re in jail, children are still dying outside. Few of us can risk months or years of incarceration while we would be better out at the clinics and in the public square educating the public on the horror of abortion. The huge financial penalties that accompany a FACE violation would be better spent on other pro-life efforts. …(W)hile the rescue movement drew a great deal of media attention, an increase in activist participation … the most effective ways to save lives are still those based on one-on-one interactions. That means everything from sidewalk counseling, working to convert providers, volunteering at a crisis pregnancy center, to simple conversations with friends to help them see the value of every human life. … (T)he era of mass blockades is over.
So, if this is true, here’s the question: If this isn’t saving the most mothers or babies from abortion…
What are we doing???
Is this for us? OR for the ones we desperately hope to reach?
And if it is truly about saving the most lives and closing the most abortion facilities, why aren’t we looking at the research, testimony, and experience that is telling us how most women turn around, choose life, and eventually become pro-life?
And this is where I need to take some responsibility and apologize.
I think part of this response is because people really don’t understand just how effective prayer and peaceful outreach at an abortion facility really is.
In a desire for humility, I haven’t always talked about the monumental success we’ve seen here at Sidewalk Advocates for Life. Sure, we report our numbers here and there, but we could do so much better in sharing just how effective modern-day sidewalk advocacy really is.
I wish I had told you right away about our one location in the Southeast who oversees 2-3 abortion facilities at any given time and just reported 504 women who chose life this past year.
Or our location in the South who’s helped over a dozen abortion workers leave the industry and find Christ.
Or talked more about an abortion destination – now off the map – that closed their abortion facility through prayer, peaceful outreach, and reporting legal violations to our friends at Reprotection.
…or shared hundreds of other stories.
By God’s grace, we have seen monumental success: 21,000 lives saved, 87 workers who left the industry, 50 facility closures – and those are just the ones we know about.
Yes, we have days, like anyone else, where it “feels” like nothing is happening – but former abortion workers are quick to let us know that this activity is so effective, when it seems like the needle isn’t moving, so much is taking place in the hearts and minds of those entering and those who work there.
We know God is ALWAYS working in the unseen. That is why we have a victory mindset, and we are confident enough to “run so as to win.”
We have learned from “greats” like Joe and Ann Scheidler; we continue to learn from research, testimony, and experience; and for the sake of lives and souls, our training and tools will continue to evolve as circumstances demand we be the most effective advocates for life possible.
Friends, children are being saved. Women are choosing life. Workers are leaving. Clinics are closing. Many are finding healing and becoming pro-life.
The numbers don’t lie. Don’t go for what’s flashy – go for what works.
Keep going: we’re making a profound difference in the battle for life!
Join us today by going to sidewalkadvocates.org/getinvolved and learning how you can be a part of the greatest human rights movement on earth.
In Christ, for Life
Lauren Muzyka