Spirit of Planned Parenthood Shows It's Face

A report from Wednesday morning from a vigil participant:
While we were there this morning, this young man (pictured left) came out of Planned Parenthood with two of his buddies (unusual for 3 young men to be there together), and he began to taunt us, daring us to step over the property line while he stood close to the building. We had no intention of doing so and we didn't. I told him that we are law abiding citizens, all the while he continued shouting out, and began swearing. The group there continued praying aloud. I asked if he could watch his language due to the children present. Thankfully, my daughter had just decided to get out of the cold and step into our car (perhaps her guardian angel urged her).

The young man became even more hostile, more obscene, and uttered all kinds of graphically fowl nonsense, decribing acts of child rape, and blasphemed God while we continued to pray. I stopped trying to engage him before he got to this point. I believe he was posessed, and I don't use that term lightly. He even proclaimed that he worships Satan! The other two buddies (pictured here) stood there all the while, silent, but "looking tough". The Satan worshiper was making cell phone calls, and we believed he was calling more of his friends to come and join him. They eventually all went back into the building.

Shortly afterwards, the same woman that drives by daily, just to heckle us, came by to do it again. She often tells mothers with children that we should be "ashamed" of ourselves for having our children out there in the cold. (Our children think what is going on in that clinic is cruel, and some of them beg us to go there to pray for the babies and for their mothers.) She went inside this time for just a minute or two, and then came out again, doing the same thing. We continued praying.

A couple of questions and observations come to mind about the young man.

This guy was standing only two feet from Planned Parenthood's building, even near a window and was shouting his obscenities loud enough that surely the employees inside would have heard. Why did they not come out to urge him stop? Why didn't they "distance" themselves from him? Was he their representative for the day? No orange shirt? His friend had some kind of name tag on, and they were all there for quite a while.

A pretty young girl came out and passed them by and said something like, "You eggin' on the protesters?" and grinned. She went out to the parking lot and smoked a cigarette and went back in, after giving a scoffing look when she heard the words of our prayers, "Pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death." An employee or a client, I'm not sure.

It seems there are two types of people entering the building. The scared and confused (but otherwise well meaning people) and the diabolical, hard core pro-abortion zealots, whose god is Satan, and who express the spirit of Planned Parenthood. Today we got a rare look at what that spirit is like.

Children are a Blessing!

The Thursday afternoon crowd has grown! Thursday is teen clinic day on certain weeks and is the only day Planned Parenthood is open as late as 6 PM. This photo was taken just before some of the 3:00 crowd left, upon some of the 4:00 crowd's arrival.

Thank you to all of the beautiful families who came out to pray and be a witness to the blessings of children!

A similiar crowd can be found on Friday afternoons.

Report from the National Campaign

Late yesterday afternoon, the e-mails began pouring into my inbox from pro-lifers around the country:

"Have you seen this?"
"They're advertising 40 Days for Life for us!"
"This is the best response Planned Parenthood has to 40 Days for
Life?
"Wow. How pathetic."
"They wouldn't do this if 40 Days for Life wasn't
working!"

These comments were attached to forwarded copies of the latest mass e-mail sent out by Planned Parenthood to abortion advocates across the nation. What was all the commotion about? You guessed it: the growing impact of 40 Days for Life!

The message comes directly from Planned Parenthood's national president, Cecile Richards. She starts off: "From Aurora to America... The battle to open our clinic in Aurora, Illinois, might be over -- thank you for all your support -- but the war against Planned Parenthood and the women we serve continues. The anti-choice people have just begun their '40 Days for Life' campaign, and you can imagine what that means. Right now, there are picketers outside... more than 80 Planned Parenthood clinics across the country, 24 hours a day for 40 days. They're claiming it's 'the largest and longest simultaneous pro-life mobilization in American history.'"

Then Richards rolls out Planned Parenthood's response to 40 Days for Life:

• They created a fictional character named "Emily X" (who is supposed to represent a blend of different Planned Parenthood workers and activists) to post stories online of what it's like to work at the abortion operation.
• They set up a blog to post pictures and videos of 40 Days for Life volunteers (in an apparent attempt to harass and intimidate faithful people).
• They falsely characterize the motivations of 40 Days for Life volunteers.
• They ask abortion advocates to participate in the tired, old "pledge-a-protester" fundraising drive.
• They encourage abortion supporters to come volunteer at Planned Parenthood.
• They beg abortion activists to write notes of encouragement to boost the morale of Planned Parenthood workers during 40 Days for Life.

Tragically, the "Emily X" character even reveals the shame and guilt that some Planned Parenthood workers feel about their jobs:

"Last night, my mother-in-law called me at home. She told me that she just
read an ad in the local paper about the '40 Days for Life' campaign. She said that she wanted to get involved, she wanted 'to get out and do something about Planned Parenthood.' See, she doesn't know that I'm a doctor at a Planned Parenthood health center. It's a part of my life that I don't share with her."

The bottom line: Planned Parenthood is investing quite a bit of energy in
response to 40 Days for Life. Would they do this if the campaign wasn't hurting
their business and tarnishing their public image?

Read this report I just received from a 40 Days for Life location, and YOU decide why Planned Parenthood is so worried...

"Despite today's steady downpour, the sidewalk was full of people praying for LIFE today! What a beautiful sight to see sometimes 20-30 people with umbrellas and raincoats, all united in prayer to bring about conversion of our nation and an end to abortion.

For those of us who have spent years at the Sidewalk all alone, having all of you there today was a miracle!

Tuesday and Fridays are normally killing mornings at the downtown Planned Parenthood, but again today like last Tuesday, we never saw the abortionist arrive. The escorts were getting frustrated at the no-show, looking at their watches frequently.

Last Tuesday, he didn't show up either and appointments had to be rescheduled. God is answering our prayers, so we PRAISE Him even in the storm.

As you go to bed tonight, just think of those good people who will be standing in the cold rain tonight in prayer."God is certainly bigger than Planned Parenthood's $902 million abortion empire......And with tens of thousands of people praying, fasting, and participating in peaceful vigils outside of Planned Parenthood offices, I believe the abortion giant now realizes that its days are numbered.

More Good News

Our local campaign is gaining momentum. More and more individuals and churches are finding out about the campaign and are excited about joining. We started out with many hours not filled, yet we keep getting reports of people just stopping by, and being joined by others. One dear lady has started her own blog to give an account from her perspective. Please visit Schola's blog.

Sign ups are increasing and we hope that soon, we can have a continual 24 hour vigil for the remainder of the 40 days (34 left), without having to set up and take down our supplies.

Also, here's a story about the launch of our local campaign.

I came a half hour late today, and there were three others praying, then the shift changed slightly and the 11:00 shift came. There were a total of 5 of us from 11 to 12.

There was a small amount of traffic entering the clinic. We are amazed by how many young women entering the clinic tell us, "I totally support what you guys are doing, I'm against abortion too."

We met one today who was quick to tell us that she wasn't going for an abortion, but was just getting a pregnancy test. We asked her if we could give her some information, and she said yes. We gave her a card for Pregnancy Resource Center and one of our volunteers called them up for her on her cell phone, and made an appointment right there. She thanked us and told us that she had been feeling really nervous about even coming to Planned Parenthood, since they do abortions, but she doesn't have insurance, and can't afford a doctor. She was glad to learn that there is help for her, and if she is pregnant, help for her baby before and after pregnancy. We offered to pray for her right there, and she gladly said yes. She thanked us again and got into her car and left.

Recap of the first week

After a beautiful kick off rally on Tuesday night (go here for an excellent report), with close to 100 in attendance, about a third of us headed over to initiate our prayer vigil, even though we didn't officially start until midnight. We held a candlelight vigil with guitar music and sang hymns of praise, dedicating our work to God. Some of us were there until about 11, but others came back at midnight. There was constant presence from midnight until 5 AM. And we know they must have been praying fervently for those of us who would be there during the open hours of the clinic.

Here are just some of the caring faces who greeted Planned Parenthood employees and clients on the first five days.

In just the first few hours, we saw a woman who was apparently scheduled for an abortion, accompanied by another woman, pull in the parking lot. They saw us praying and holding our signs. They walked together toward the door. She touched the door, and then let go and walked back to the car, followed by her companion. They sat in the car for about 15 minutes in discussion, and then finally drove away. We continue to pray for her, that she gets the help and love she needs.

In the same day, we counseled a woman who walked out of the clinic, sadly from just having an abortion. She was hurting. She told us she was sorry. She came to us and we hugged her and loved her, and shared some information with her about Project Rachel, a healing retreat for women who've had an abortion.

And on the second day, we saw another woman walk out of her apparent scheduled abortion, appearing very disturbed. She got in the car with her boyfriend who had been waiting in the car, and they drove off. While she was in the clinic, another woman came out to yell at me and tell me to take my sign (seen above) somewhere else, because people were trying to make hard decisions in there. I told her that I was praying for the people making those hard decisions. She yelled about it some more, and I told her it was my constitutional right to be there, on the public right of way. She continued to yell, and I just bowed my head and prayed. She went back in.

So far, in spite of Planned Parenthood's campaign to "fight back" with their "Pledge a Picketer" campaign, only one man held an "I heart Planned Parenthood" sign and wore a bright orange t-shirt with the same. He came out of the building on Thursday when I was there alone for a little while and parked his sign on the sidewalk, and stood with it, about 5 feet away from me.

We were friendly and respectful to each other, making small talk, but as soon as I challenged him a little bit in conversation, he told me he thought it would be best if we didn't engage in "dialogue". This was in response to my showing him a fetal development model and asking if he'd ever seen one. He told me he had been the director of PP for years and that he was "very familiar with fetal development." In spite of his stated wish to avoid dialogue, he started one 2 or 3 other times. I was happy to engage. I'm praying for his heart to change.

There are plenty of other stories to tell. The above are just a few. It is evident that God is in this, and is providing all that we need. Momentum is building and more time slots are getting filled. People are coming forward and offering to do outreach to their own churches and groups.

All praise, glory and honor to the Lord!