My Day on the {Abortion Clinic} Sidewalk

Last Thursday evening I committed to something I’d been praying about for weeks — ministering on the sidewalk of one of our local abortion clinics.

I could have come up with so many excuses not to go, but I could not stop thinking about these babies — these women.

As I tossed and turned that night I couldn’t help but think about the other side of the sidewalk; the women who were tossing and turning in their own beds as they contemplated the decision they were about to make.  My fear of seeing them face to face kept me awake for hours.  The unknown threatened to keep me still.

My alarm didn’t go off the next morning which left me rushing to get out the door on time.  I had a 45 minute drive and used the majority of it in prayer.  Prayer for what I was about to see, prayer for these babies, these women.  The closer I got, the more my stomach turned.

What would these hours be like?
What would I see?
What would I say?

I pulled up and saw our local crisis pregnancy center’s mobile ultrasound RV parked on the street outside and a few men and children standing on the sidewalk.  I didn’t see Lisa, whom I’d been talking to over the last few weeks.

I walked up to the men and introduced myself.  One was sharing an evangelism cube with the kids, the other holding a sign that read, “Thou Shall Not Murder”.  They told me that Lisa was already on the RV with two women.

The one man ran down the sidewalk as a car was pulling in and he motioned for me to come with him.

“No, no, no. Abortion is MURDER.” I heard as he approached the car.  I instantly thought, “Not quite my approach, but ok.”

The sites and sounds were overwhelming…

The clinic hired security guard sat in the parking lot and blasted secular rap music as Lisa’s young son rushed to the microphone to plead with the women inside.

A mother that had just seen her baby on ultrasound (for free) came out of the RV, asked which building was the abortion clinic, hopped in her car, and entered the building to kill the baby she’d just seen living inside of her.

Lisa’s children knelt down on the sidewalk and prayed for her as she refused to listen to our pleas.

Three men stood outside their car laughing and joking as the woman they brought murdered her baby.  They’d actually been there the day before because she was so far along that the abortion process took two days.

The nurse from the RV came out and pleaded with the men to go in and stand up for the woman as she shared her very own abortion experience, literally on her knees.  The men laughed, told her she was just making things worse, and told her to shut the — up.

Car after car after car pulled in.  Faces stone cold.  Smiles and laughter as they listened to the ladies on the sidewalk offer them hope, help, and the gospel.  I didn’t say anything.  I just prayed.

The day was exhausting; emotionally and physically.  We had one baby saved!

To see this parking lot full of cars and to know that there were two other abortion clinics in my city and hundreds around the country full as well.  To know that each day thousands of babies die at the hands of their own mothers.  To know that the majority of these babies aren’t conceived out of rape or pose a health risk to their mothers.  The majority of these babies threaten to inconvenience their mothers.

To know that in many places the sidewalks are empty because Christians won’t step out of the comfortable places and step into hell on earth for the sake of a mother and her baby.

Yes, a mother and baby.  One dies, if not both.  And the other suffers for the rest of their life.

Where is the church?

The number of churches in my city far outweigh the number of abortion clinics, but we’re content to sit idly by as babies are murdered around the corner while we sit in our comfortable pews, hear a comfortable gospel, and go home to our comfortable homes.

Will you pray about how the Lord might use you to save a life?

It won’t be comfortable, but neither was Christ’s sacrifice.