Farmers, Fair Rides, and Fetal Models – Greater Columbus Right to Life takes the Pro-Life Message to the Delaware County Fair.

Rep. Andy Brenner & Ruth Yorston at the Life Education Booth

Thanks to the generosity of two families in Delaware County, Greater Columbus Right to Life has a Life Education booth at the Delaware County Fair (Sept 17 - 24). More than 150,000 people attend this popular county fair. They come to see  and/or bid on the animals, enjoy the rides on the midway, watch the Little Brown Jug and consume their fair share of elephant ears, funnel cakes and fair food. And hundreds of people stop by GCRTL's Life Education booth to learn more about life issues and the Pro-Life movement.Our team of volunteers speaks with people about the sanctity of human life, offering information about issues such as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia and assisted suicide. The primary feature of the booth is a fetal model set, showing the development of the pre-born from the first through seventh month of pregnancy. People of all ages come into the booth to look at the models, which acts as a conversation-starter to speak with them about the sanctity of life and the need to protect, not harm, people. 

I was able to spend several hours at the booth over the last few days and  was blessed beyond measure to speak with many teenagers about life before birth, abortion and abstinence. Here is one of the stories from my time at the fair. Please pray for this young people as they face decisions about their futures.

"Mary" (not her real name) is a 15-year old girl who came in with her twin sister. Like many other teenagers, she was fascinated by the fetal models and had questions about the development of children in the womb. She wanted to talk about more than that, though. Mary plans to be sexually  active and wants to protect herself from an unplanned pregnancy, so she and her mother have scheduled an appointment with a doctor at Nationwide Children's for her to get a Depo-Provera birth control injection. After speaking with Mary about the birth control and the fact that it does not guarantee she will not  become pregnant, does not protect her from the long list of sexually transmitted diseases common among sexually active teenagers, and has potentially negative side effects, I asked her an important question: "Why can't you wait to have sex?" Mary and her sister  spent at least 20 minutes with me, learning about why waiting until marriage to be sexually active is the best decision they can make for themselves and for their future husbands. Before she left, she said to me "Wow, I feel really special, now." Mary is reconsidering sexual purity until marriage. Please pray that Mary takes to heart that she is a unique and special young woman, worth waiting for and worth protecting.

"Justin" (not his real name) stopped by to look at the fetal models too. He picked up one of the models of a 12-week pre-born child and was astonished to find out how developed children are at that point. After spending about ten minutes talking with me about abortion and why life begins at conception he said, "I need to bring my girlfriend to talk to you". When he came to the booth he was not sure what he thought about abortion, but when he left he had no doubt - life begins at conception. He took the model of the 12-week old pre-born child to show his friends and his girlfriend and brought some of them back later to speak with me. 

These are just two of the many stories I have from my time at the fair. Please pray for our volunteers and the people who will stop by our booth yet this week.

Always for Life,

Ruth Yorston
Executive Director

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