Each week, I receive reports from Madison’s Vigil for Life about the efforts of witnesses for life who stand and pray on the sidewalk outside of the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic at 3706 Orin Rd. in Madison.
It should be noted that the Women’s Care Center is located right across the street from the Planned Parenthood clinic. Women’s Care Center provides free, confidential counseling, support, and education to women facing unplanned pregnancies.
Report from witness for life
One of the recent Vigil for Life reports provides an email from a witness for life detailing what happened on that sidewalk on January 2, 2020:
“At the beginning of my shift, it was thought that two cars in the parking lot had reluctant women in them. As one got out of the car, I told her about the Women’s Care Center. She came over to me and said she didn’t want an abortion but already had three children and was homeless.
“I told her about the Women’s Care Center, and we walked over there together. She came out about 20 minutes later and said they were going to help her find a home. She wants to give her baby LIFE!
“Please keep this mother and her children (including the one growing in her womb) in your prayers! If nobody had reached out to her that day, another choice may have been made!”
Giving women a real choice
Many pregnant women like this mother may feel like they have no choice. They may be reluctant to have an abortion, but they don’t see any other options available. That’s why pro-life witnesses outside abortion clinics provide such an important role.
As one woman said in explaining why she participates in sidewalk counseling and pro-life witness, “The presence of peaceful, prayerful pro-life advocates outside an abortion clinic has a profound and ongoing effect on those going inside, on the workers, on the people walking or driving by. It provides multiple and memorable messages regarding the wrongness of abortion, the availability of alternatives, and the offer of forgiveness through Christ’s Gospel.”
Although so-called “pro-choice” people believe they have the corner on the word “choice,” I think that pro-life witnesses and others who work in the pro-life movement are giving women real, true choices.
Women do experience unexpected pregnancies. Sometimes those women do not have emotional or financial support and feel their only choice is abortion. Yet, according to an article in Miss Millennia magazine, over 80 percent of women said they would have carried their unborn baby to term under better circumstances or with the support of loved ones, over 60 percent said they felt “forced” to have an abortion, and 40 percent said they were still hoping to discover some alternatives to abortion when they went for “counseling” at the abortion clinic.
The pro-life witnesses outside abortion clinics can offer pregnant women options. Madison’s Women’s Care Center along with other services such as Pregnancy Helpline and CareNet Pregnancy Center offer help.
The Priests for Life website (www.priestsforlife.org) offers many alternatives to abortion. It includes information on OptionLine with consultants who refer each caller to a pregnancy resource center in her area at 800-712-HELP (4357).
Madison’s Vigil for Life always welcomes volunteers. For more information, go to https://vigilforlife.org You may become one of those pro-life witnesses who offers pregnant women a real choice.