Kermit the Frog once said, “It ain’t easy being green.” Well, similarly, it isn’t easy being pro-life. I’m not talking about the stereotypes or the counter-cultural perception that many have (despite the evidence that a majority of Americans are strongly pro-life); I’m talking about the emotions we in the pro-life movement feel when we see the casual disregard for human life around us. We all feel it, I think, in varying degrees and in varying ways. The Gosnell trial brought it out. The images of a newborn baby in China, stuck in the pipes of her building after being flushed down the toilet alive brought it to mind. The call of a woman considering abortion and the pain of a woman or man struggling post-abortion – each brings out this emotion. I’m sure that the emotions are as unique as the person experiencing them, but over and over again we experience heartache over the senseless loss of life. It isn’t easy being pro-life. It is one reason that we begin to count the small victories.
Mother Teresa once said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.” That is wise advice, coming from a woman who experienced more than her share of the heartache of human existence. It is good to remember that pro-life victories are often victories of one.
The Greater Columbus community had one such victory this week, and I’d like to share it with you. In my post-lunch perusal of Facebook (not to be confused with my lunchtime perusal of Facebook), I came upon a status update from Abby Johnson, a woman who has become a household name in the pro-life community. Abby was a former abortion-clinic worker who walked away from the abortion clinic and is now a powerful voice in defense of the unborn. She started an organization called, “And Then There Were None” (ATTWN). ATTWN is a national organization dedicated to helping abortion clinic workers walk away from their jobs and towards new lives. ATTWN helps with living expenses, job-search help, healing, and more. The sidewalk counselors trained by Greater Columbus Right to Life frequently share ATTWN information with clinic workers, letting them know, “When you are ready to leave, there will be help.” We frequently pray for abortion clinic workers to turn away from the mills and towards life, ATTWN takes the fruits of those prayers into its arms.
Suffice it to say, Abby Johnson is pretty darn cool. If you’ve not read her book, I would encourage you to borrow/buy/download it today. Abby’s status update said:
A former abortion worker from Columbus, Ohio has contacted ATTWN! She is a single mom of two young kids. Although she is willing to gain new employment anywhere, she has extensive experience as a medical and legal interpreter/translator (she speaks both English and Spanish fluently) and also has experience as a drug abuse/domestic violence counselor. If you have any information about job leads or opportunities for this woman, PLEASE EMAIL our operations director at jennie@attwn.org
Now, to be clear – I do not know who this woman is. It does not matter. I do not know how she heard about ATTWN. It does not matter. I do not know if her path ever crossed with a GCRTL Sidewalk Counselor, a 40 Days for Life participant, a respect life coordinator who works with us, or even one of our volunteers. It does not matter. What matters is that this is a pro-life Victory of One, and we are celebrating the victory, sharing the request for job leads, and asking that you all pray for this woman and her former coworkers. Likewise, if you know an abortion worker, please share with them that groups like ATTWN are there for them when they are ready to leave, and GCRTL will do everything in our power to help them, too.
This is not the only Victory of One that we’ve seen in recent weeks, and I am incredibly joyful that we are seeing more and more of them. In May, our Sidewalk Counselors and Prayer Partners turned four women away from the abortion clinics and into the loving arms of pregnancy resource centers. We partnered with Created Equal to bring pro-life apologetics training to more than 50, many of them new to the team. We are holding our next Sidewalk Counseling training THIS Saturday (June 8th) – with a few spots left, it isn’t too late to sign up.
So as you go on with your week or kick off your weekend, remember that there is great joy in Victories of One, and with your help we will keep celebrating them.
Mother Teresa once said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, feed just one.” That is wise advice, coming from a woman who experienced more than her share of the heartache of human existence. It is good to remember that pro-life victories are often victories of one.
The Greater Columbus community had one such victory this week, and I’d like to share it with you. In my post-lunch perusal of Facebook (not to be confused with my lunchtime perusal of Facebook), I came upon a status update from Abby Johnson, a woman who has become a household name in the pro-life community. Abby was a former abortion-clinic worker who walked away from the abortion clinic and is now a powerful voice in defense of the unborn. She started an organization called, “And Then There Were None” (ATTWN). ATTWN is a national organization dedicated to helping abortion clinic workers walk away from their jobs and towards new lives. ATTWN helps with living expenses, job-search help, healing, and more. The sidewalk counselors trained by Greater Columbus Right to Life frequently share ATTWN information with clinic workers, letting them know, “When you are ready to leave, there will be help.” We frequently pray for abortion clinic workers to turn away from the mills and towards life, ATTWN takes the fruits of those prayers into its arms.
Suffice it to say, Abby Johnson is pretty darn cool. If you’ve not read her book, I would encourage you to borrow/buy/download it today. Abby’s status update said:
A former abortion worker from Columbus, Ohio has contacted ATTWN! She is a single mom of two young kids. Although she is willing to gain new employment anywhere, she has extensive experience as a medical and legal interpreter/translator (she speaks both English and Spanish fluently) and also has experience as a drug abuse/domestic violence counselor. If you have any information about job leads or opportunities for this woman, PLEASE EMAIL our operations director at jennie@attwn.org
Now, to be clear – I do not know who this woman is. It does not matter. I do not know how she heard about ATTWN. It does not matter. I do not know if her path ever crossed with a GCRTL Sidewalk Counselor, a 40 Days for Life participant, a respect life coordinator who works with us, or even one of our volunteers. It does not matter. What matters is that this is a pro-life Victory of One, and we are celebrating the victory, sharing the request for job leads, and asking that you all pray for this woman and her former coworkers. Likewise, if you know an abortion worker, please share with them that groups like ATTWN are there for them when they are ready to leave, and GCRTL will do everything in our power to help them, too.
This is not the only Victory of One that we’ve seen in recent weeks, and I am incredibly joyful that we are seeing more and more of them. In May, our Sidewalk Counselors and Prayer Partners turned four women away from the abortion clinics and into the loving arms of pregnancy resource centers. We partnered with Created Equal to bring pro-life apologetics training to more than 50, many of them new to the team. We are holding our next Sidewalk Counseling training THIS Saturday (June 8th) – with a few spots left, it isn’t too late to sign up.
So as you go on with your week or kick off your weekend, remember that there is great joy in Victories of One, and with your help we will keep celebrating them.
RSS Feed
