Children are at stake in every abortion. And children remind our culture of what we are losing in every abortion — our innocence and our future.
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ASHEVILLE, NORTH CAROLINA
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If you’re wondering about bringing the kids to the 40 Days for Life vigil — yes! Please do — based on the location, of course; parents should use their best judgment. But children always remind people of what this is all about.
That’s the theme of a short story that Bethany in North Carolina posted on the 40 Days for Life blog. Here’s what she wrote:
- After I packed up my children, ages 2-and-a-half and 5, and began driving to the clinic for my morning prayer hour, I wondered if I should have made some sort of sign to hold. It was spitting rain, so I hoped to park as close as possible to the vigil site, in case I needed to keep the children in the car.
By the time I got there, it had cleared enough that I felt comfortable putting my children in the double stroller. There were two other prayer volunteers on site, including one who is a year-round sidewalk counselor.
We greeted each other and I parked the children on the sidewalk across the street from the clinic.
The children and I and began to pray by singing very softly: a couple decades of the rosary, “Jesus Loves the Little Children,” “He’s Got the Whole World In His Hands,” etc. And then I noticed something unusual.
In the middle of the parking lot stood one of the volunteer escorts, instead of keeping post on the steps like normal. She was an older woman, and I could tell by her stance and the way she kept looking at me that she was not happy about our presence. We just kept praying and singing.
I saw the woman go back to the steps and speak to one of the other escorts, and I had the distinct impression that I was being ridiculed. About 10 minutes later, the woman removed her escort vest and went to her car, shaking her head my direction. I steeled myself for a confrontation and prayed for wisdom.
Sure enough, the woman paused at the parking lot exit with her window rolled down. “As a grandma,” the woman said, “it breaks my heart to see those children out here like that.” And then she drove off, without giving me a chance to respond.
As I exchanged thoughts with the other prayer volunteers, I occurred to me that the sign I had belatedly wondered about making for my prayer hour had already been made — my little children. They were all the sign needed to speak for life!
Please pray for that clinic escort, that her heart would break, not for children singing happily in the drizzling rain, but for the countless babies dying inside the abortion clinic.
Pray that she will acknowledge them as the persons they already are, children who lead us to sing on their behalf because they will likely not be given the chance.
LifeNews.com Note: Shawn Carney is the campaign director for the 40 Days for Life pro-life prayer campaign against abortion.
