40 Days for Life

by James Aalan Bernsen
Texas Republic News
September 23, 2009

Tuesday night, on a busy stretch of road in North Austin, over 100 pro-life activists gathered literally on the front lines of the fight against abortion – outside an abortion clinic that looked more like a military compound than a health care center.

Yet if anyone expects anger, rage or condemnation from these advocates, you can forget about it.

“This isn’t a protest. It isn’t about judging. It’s about prayer and peacefully uniting people across America and the world who desire to see an end to abortion,” says Elizabeth McClung, a dynamic speaker and passionate advocate of the cause, who has been with the organization since its founding in Bryan/College Station.

40 Days For Life may have the trappings of a protest: organized groups camped out in front of abortion clinics with pro life signs and banners. Yet on second glance, this is a far different type of event. Taking a page from Martin Luther King, Jr.’s playbook, the event skips confrontation and replaces it with compassion. Rather than hurl insults at doctors and patients, participants pray for them. When women seeking abortions do come up to them, they have trained counselors who provide them information about options to abortions in a non-confrontational way.

McClung said that in order to enlist God’s aid, opponents of abortion must embrace love and compassion, not anger.

“Now more than ever, we must bring our pro-life convictions to the streets to compassionately protect pregnant mothers and their pre-born children,” McClung said.

That attitude works. The keynote speaker at the Austin event was a former abortion provider, Carol Everett of Dallas, who abandoned the practice and has now become an advocate for pro-life issues.

Everett said that the men and women who work in abortion clinics may claim otherwise, but inside they are all hurting, and know what they are doing is wrong. While angry protests might not reach them, prayer and compassion can.

“By using the power of prayer, you can reach them, get them to come out,” she said.

In fact, 40 Days for Life has done just that on several occasions. Since the organization started in the Lone Star State went national two years ago, 70,000 people have participated. At least 18 abortion workers have quit their jobs and three clinics have shut down completely following recent campaigns. And far more meaningful to McClung and other participants, as many as 1,560 women considering abortions chose life instead.

Reshaping the debate on abortion

Getting that kind of response was unthinkable in the past, because the confrontational nature of anti-abortion protests, which turned off people passing by and often scared the very women the protesters were trying to reach. With anger and extremists controlling the debate, many in the pro-life movement saw the protests as counter-productive.

In 2004, a group of pro-life advocates began looking for ways to change the culture and debate on abortion, not by getting in people’s faces, but by getting into their hearts. They chose to do that through prayer, and 40 Days for Life was born.

That first campaign was put together in only a matter of weeks, but attracted over 1,000 volunteers to conduct a peaceful prayer vigil outside abortion clinics in the community throughout the period of Lent. In the course of that first vigil, abortions in Bryan/College Station decreased by 28 percent.

By 2007, 40 Days for Life had spread nationally, and even internationally, and continues to grow. Currently, events take place in 211 cities in the U.S., Canada and Denmark. Originally planned as a single campaign set around Lent, some more active groups are expanding throughout the year.

“The spring 40 Days for Life set an incredible standard,” McClung said. “We received an overwhelming response and that demands a second campaign.”

The current campaign takes place from Sep. 23 to November 1. Besides Austin, the event is also taking place in the following Texas Cities:

Abilene

Amarillo

Bryan/College Station

Grimes and Waller Counties

Houston

Killeen