When Catholic apologist Trent Horn headlined our Pro-Life: An Awakening Conference in September, he spoke of the pro-life fight as one "to restore the right to life of the unborn". He reminded us that pre-born humans did once have the legally protected right to life and so we must cling to the hope that it WILL be restored once again.

Pro-life strategy has changed a lot in 44 years. Gone are the days of Operation Rescue laying down in front of an abortion clinic for weeks on end.  Now we see 40 Days for Life prayer campaigns. Sidewalk demonstrators are being replaced by sidewalk counselors. Even apologetics are changing. Religious arguments have become a faux pas of the movement, instead being replaced by reason, logic, science, and more secular philosophy.

The face of the pro-life movement has changed, but opposition looks quite the same. If last weekend's Women's March wasn't evidence enough, just head on over to Facebook and take a gander at the comment thread of any recent article from the mainstream media with even a hint about women's rights.​














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As you head to the March for Life this week, remember that while the opposition has not changed, you must remain on the path that has improved the pro-life image in recent years: that of a well-reasoned, calm, collected, gracious Pro-Life Ambassador. How do you become an ambassador, you say? Just follow these 5 simple rules, detailed by Trent Horn throughout his book, Persuasive Pro-Life: How to Talk About Our Culture's Toughest Issue:

#1 Don't be weird.
So, what does this mean?  This means don't be intentionally weird or over-the-top.  Don't be unnecessarily grotesque or scary.  Don't wear a head stone as a costume with "Here Lies Your Abortion" on it.  We don't need to be hyperbolic about abortion in any way - the actual act and medically accurate descriptions of the various procedures speak for themselves.  When the cameras are rolling on you this Friday (and it looks like they will), have a dignified message on a sign you may be holding and smile so people can see that you are a real human being and not an anti-choice boogeyman.

#2 Make your evidence bulletproof.
Science has revealed a lot of truth in the past 44 years.  There's no need to lie about when babies can feel pain or at what stage of development all organs are in place.  Again, as stated above, there's no need to lie about anything; the facts speak very loudly.  However, be wary of where you obtain your evidence.  While pro-life news sources are great for firming your own resolve, they get a big eye-roll from pro-choicers (trust me, I used to be one).  Instead use the CDC, Guttmacher Institute, or Planned Parenthood's own reports to make a case for the realities of the abortion industry.

#3 Ask questions instead of making statements
Should you run into a pro-choice person at the March, refrain from engaging in shouting or debate.  Instead, try a dialogue.  Ask lots of questions, so you can understand where the other person is coming from and to prove yourself trustworthy.  When you ask questions, you can actually see an illogical argument come around to its unavoidable conclusion without having to make a point of your own.  Avoid Fetus Tunnel Vision when someone asks you about rape or a woman facing a crisis pregnancy while in destitute poverty.  Along with Trent Horn, the masters of dialogue, in my very humble opinion, are the guys at the Equal Rights Institute.  Check out their video course on pro-life apologetics, specifically designed to improve your person-to-person conversations, the Equipped for Life Course*.

#4 Agree whenever possible
Common ground is your friend.  Facebook comment threads may not convey this, but the overwhelming majority of Americans actually support limits on abortion to the first trimester and vehemently oppose late term abortions for most reasons.  It doesn't betray your pro-life bona fides to agree with a pro-choice interlocutor about these things.  Remember #3 above?  Ask someone if they believe that abortion should be allowed at any point in the pregnancy, up until birth.  If they say no and perhaps offer that abortion should be illegal after 14 weeks, agree with them that you wouldn't want to see abortion after 14 weeks.  Then follow with a question: "Let me ask you, though, what's the difference between a 14 week fetus and a 13 week fetus?"  Use common ground to challenge someone's view in a much more gracious way than some of the shouting matches you may have engaged in in the past.

#5 Listen.
Don't listen just for your next opportunity to talk; actually listen. A person's reasons for supporting legalized abortion may be much more complicated or nuanced than you think.  While the pro-life position may be cut and dry for you, it may not be that way for other people.  Actually listen, with an open-mind, to what the person you are speaking with has to say so that you may respond with compassion and grace.  Listening helps you to avoid the dreaded logical fallacies of ad hominem attacks and straw men as well!  Don't take my word for it, though, here's an actual quote from someone who recently completed our Persuasive Pro-Life book study:

"I have also been enjoying this book.  Not only is it helping me to become more pro-life than ever, it is inspiring me to ask more questions.  Questions about politics, government, God....  And more often than not, God answers my prayers and enlightens my mind, whether it be through tough interactions on Facebook, readings, or conversations with others.  I am finding that I can apply these strategies in general conversations, but not to be right, but to better understand the person I'm speaking with.  I can't tell you how many times I have asked someone to clarify what they meant by a certain word only to find out I interpreted it the wrong way!! Each person we talk to is just that: A person.  If we are to be pro-life, we have to believe that and treat others accordingly, with the respect they deserve as a person with feelings and experiences that we don't have. "


On Friday at the March for Life, remember the words of St. Paul: "If I speak in human and angelic tongues but do not have love, I am a resounding gong or a clashing cymbal" (1 Corinthians 13:1).  Silence the cymbal; be an ambassador instead.


For Life,


Ali Rak






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The Walls are Talking is diametrically opposed to the “nothing less than propaganda” 1996 film starring Demi Moore, Sissy Spacek and Cher, titled If these Walls could Talk.  The Hollywood movie depicts abortion as the only compassionate and safe choice for women who are pregnant, but for variety of reasons, don’t want to be carrying a child.
 
Former Planned Parenthood insiders are the organization’s worst enemies.  Their eyewitness testimonials expose how Planned Parenthood functions through deception, half-truths and outright lies.
 
The former clinical workers in The Walls are Talking demonstrate how Planned Parenthood exploits women when they are most vulnerable.  They reveal how Planned Parenthood is driven by the profit motive, not concern for women.  They speak of the horrific methods used to violently take babies from their mothers’ wombs.  They speak of the Products of Conception (POC) labs where dead babies’ remains are pieced back together like jigsaw puzzles (to make sure the entire baby was removed). 
 
In short, The Walls are Talking is further evidence, for anyone who needs convincing, that abortion is an evil scourge.
 
The Walls are Talking, follows Johnson’s first book, UnPlanned, which is the story of Johnson’s career at Planned Parenthood.  In UnPlanned, the truth was revealed to Johnson when she participated in an abortion and saw for herself the cold and callous procedure that takes the life of an unborn child.
 
The Walls are Talking, like UnPlanned, is must read for a nation that, as of this writing, uses taxpayer money to fund Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the United States.

Passionate about the cause, Abby soon rose to a Planned Parenthood clinic director.  In Abby’s mind, helping to navigate women through the abortion process, although heartbreaking at times, was a necessary and righteous endeavor. 
 
Why then, did Abby have fits of conscience?  Why did she have trouble telling people what she did for a living, and at first even hid her career decision from her own mother?  Especially irksome were the pesky pro-lifers who marched peacefully and prayed, not only for the women who entered the clinic, but also for abortion providers.
 
One day, when the clinic was shorthanded, Abby was asked to help in an ultrasound-guided abortion procedure. Holding a medical instrument, Abby saw the baby back away as the probe drew near. The baby struggled in distress.  It twisted, turned and then “crumpled” as the abortionist sucked the baby out of its mother’s womb. 
 
Witnessing for herself the baby’s last moments as it struggled for life was Abby’s moment of truth.  The scales were removed, and she saw abortion for what it is.  She could no longer deny that the murder of innocents was not just wrong, but a heinous crime, not only against women and unborn children, but also against all that is holy.  
 
Abby broke ranks with Planned Parenthood and sought assistance from her former opponents, the pro-life believers who warmly welcomed her into their fold.
 
In Unplanned, Abby recounts her experiences from the time she signed on to Planned Parenthood to the day she was “Suddenly overcome with sorrow.”  Thinking about her role in leading women to discard their unborn babies “like trash,” Abby said, “I fell to my knees and wept.”
 
Abby has used her knowledge and insight as a former Planned Parenthood director to forge a new beginning.  In her characteristic bold and courageous style, she is now telling the truth about Planned Parenthood. She reveals the industry as the profit-driven, deceptive and destructive enterprise that it is.

If you don't know how to get there, or don't want to drive, or maybe you don't share these values with your friends.  We are out there! And we go in buses! We currently have a list of local churches providing bus transportation who would like to join in solidarity with other pro-lifers from around the country to peacefully protest this most unjust law on the least of these, the innocent of our nation: the unborn.  Please contact us for the list and if you have any questions.  Thank you, and in the words of Sid Marcus, our Chairman,

May God bless our efforts.

The DC March for Life is coming up.  Thousands of us will gather in the streets to peacefully protest the inception of Roe v Wade, and the beginning of the legal genocide on the most vulnerable in our society: Our children in the womb.

Since then we have been told many things, many that have deceived us and many that are just outright lies.  We have been told that the baby in the womb is a "fetus," not a real person.  We have been told that life doesn't happen until the baby can live outside of the womb on its own.  We have been told that a woman can do whatever she wants with her body.  That is only the beginning.  

I don't know about you, but I don't like to be lied to.  It makes me angry.  

Does it make you angry?

Does it make you angry enough to want to do something about it?

Do you wonder what you can do? 

Do you ever think to yourself, "But I'm just one person, it won't make a difference anyway."

This year, the theme of the march in DC is "The Power of One."  All it takes is for one person to stand up and say something, to speak truth again.  It is the one thing our society is seriously lacking these days.  We have become so accustomed to telling each other what we want to hear under the title of "love," that we have forgotten to love in truth.

In Annapolis 101, you will learn what you can do with your one voice to speak up for the unborn.  If every one of you who reads this does one thing, makes one phone call, speaks the truth to one other person, think of the domino effect that could possibly happen.  Plant the seed.  Let God do His handiwork in you and through you.  

This Saturday, January 7 from 9am-10:30am, you can learn how to speak up, not only for the least in our society who cannot speak for themselves, but for any other social injustice issue that plagues our state of Maryland.  And you can do it from the comfort of your own home.

Click here to register for the webinar, Annapolis 101: Why, when, and how to be an effective pro-life citizen.  Make sure you have a pen and paper ready to take notes.  Be one voice among thousands that can change this culture of death.  Together we can make positive changes. 

God bless you,
​Karen Cross

With our first two losses, we just knew their names, even though they were only 12 and 14 weeks along.  So, we named them.  Then, we had two more 5 week losses back to back.  I guarded myself so fiercely after those two losses because I truly felt like I would shatter from the pain if I allowed myself to feel anything at all.  So, we didn't name them at the time. 

​Then, this past July we had another 11 week loss and I just knew his name.

​Read more...