Abortion protests have always left a bad taste in the mouth of the Christian Church.  At first glance the protests are loud, they include horrific depictions of aborted babies, and they are completely unsophisticated.  A sidewalk counselor is a person who deliberately sticks her nose into someone else’s business.  Couple that first impression with constant biased media coverage, and the abominable teaching in today’s churches that Christians are not to judge, and you have the perfect “Christian” excuse for not getting involved in the fight to protect the unborn. “Those protesters are judgmental, unloving, scripturally ignorant people who are making all Christians look bad!”

While Christians piously point their fingers at the picketers and sidewalk counselors, the reality is that everyday innocent children are scheduled to be viciously pulled from their mother’s wombs and sold for parts.  They are dying hideous deaths at the hands of abortionists who are laughing all the way to the bank.  Pro-life protesters will not let that happen without at least begging for the lives of the unborn children and confronting their mothers with the truth about what they are doing.

We’ve been told that we should run a crisis pregnancy center and minister to women that way.  CPCs are a fine way to minister to a woman who hasn’t already made up her mind to kill her child.  The ministry in the street is to reach the woman who has it set in her heart to kill her child and has scheduled an appointment to do so.  We are determined to save that child.  We have 10 to 30 seconds to make an impression on her that is so strong that she will at least have to think about what she is doing; thus the graphic pictures, loud talking and, in our case, standing on ladders to insure eye contact with the mom.

A while back I had a very emotional conversation with a young woman who was convinced that an abortion was the only solution for her problems.  After about an hour she agreed that she would not kill her child and she allowed me to take her to the local crisis pregnancy center for an ultra sound.  There was a flood of tears on the way to the cpc as she came to terms with the reality of her life and what she needed to do for success and happiness in the future.  She had finally realized that the easy way out was not easy in the long run and it was definitely not a way out.  While waiting for the young mom I was confronted by the director of the cpc.  I will never forget what she said to me, “I don ’t agree with what you do.  We have to put these women (that you bring here) back together emotionally after you are through with them.”  I was stunned at her lack of understanding for the situation.  I answered, “It’s a lot easier to put the mother back together than it is the baby.”

The truth is that we save about 100 children a year standing on the street outside of Planned Parenthood in Denver.  Also, with the help of many people and organizations we can provide the moms with what they need to be successful including housing and education.  We believe that true happiness will only come with a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ, so not all the time, but sometimes, we are able to lead the moms to Christ.

And we are not the only ones.  There are gentle saints standing on the streets in front of abortion clinics in every state in the country.  They risk their livelihoods, their reputations, their positions in their churches and their communities, all without batting an eye, because they understand that we are to rescue those who are unjustly led to the slaughter.  That’s love.

We have watched in horror over the past three decades as unwitting Christians and politicians have compromised the personhood of the unborn by implementing laws that choose how, when, and who will be sacrificed for some group to feel good about themselves and the “progress” they’re making in the fight against abortion.

Will abortion protesters or sidewalk counselors ever end abortion?  Absolutely not!  They will stop some abortions, but only a healthy, living, and loving church can end abortion.  A healthy church feeds on the Word and is equipped to reach the world for Christ.  It does not look to politicians, lawyers or psychologists for guidance and direction.  A living and loving church reaches out to the world around them with truth.  It is able tear down the strongholds of evil and confront the sins of the day without compromise, without apology and without exception. We pray that one day the church will assume its responsibilities and love God enough to stand for Him.  That will be the day that abortion will end.

Are sidewalk counselors and abortion protesters effective if compared to what is happening on other anti-abortion fronts?  Yes!  The protesters are making a difference daily in the lives of families in every state in the union.  If a child isn't rescued, a young woman is convicted of her sin and that is always a good thing.  I think any honest person will have to admit that however unsophisticated, however grotesque, or however loud, there are thousands of children alive today that would have been killed if not for the abortion protesters and sidewalk counselors.  Every day that there is an abortion protester or sidewalk counselor outside of an abortion mill it reminds the world that God has not forgotten the unborn.  My husband Ken and I have been on the sidewalks outside of an abortion mill most days for years and we have been privileged to see some of the children that we rescued grow up to be fine upstanding young men and women.  It is our opinion that if we had only saved one life in all these years every minute on the street would have been well spent.