By Michelle Lapeyre
When I was a high school student in Richmond, Virginia, a friend invited me to pray outside a local abortion clinic one Saturday. There Christians had a minute to walk outside with these young women, offer a few words, and hand out pro-life literature listing local crisis pregnancy centers.
My heart broke to see teens my own age dragged inside the clinic against their will. Boyfriends and even parents felt burdened by the financial responsibility of a baby or feared the social stigma of a child outside of marriage. I could barely fathom that every Saturday the smallest and weakest members of our community were being killed inside this building.
Today my 15-year-old daughter and I pray weekly for an hour or two outside a local clinic. Of course, Christians should offer practical assistance to women in distress, but sometimes the only thing we can offer is the presence of Christ through our prayers.
On Friday mornings we head to Access Health Center in Downers Grove, where we pray outside for the women, their families, boyfriends, and the children who are entering the clinic still in their mothers’ wombs. A small group of volunteers from multiple churches in the Wheaton area pray regularly there at different times.
“Often we have discouraging days when women entering the clinic do not change their minds,” my daughter says. “But when they do, it is a testimony to us that it is God working in their hearts.”
How do we know what to say to hurting women? “God knows what the clients will best respond to, so I need to keep my ears open to what He wants me to say,” she adds.
Abby Johnson, former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic who left the industry, says that one of the most effective means to stop abortions is Christians praying outside. This presence increases the chance that women entering a clinic will learn about alternatives. Most importantly, prayer invites the presence of the Holy Spirit to change hearts in ways that are impossible by human means.
In early 2020, God answered many years of prayers–the Aanchor abortion clinic on Roosevelt Road closed! Believers from Rez and other churches had prayed there on Saturday mornings and during the 40 Days for Life campaign.
Although that facility closed, abortions have significantly increased at Access Health Center in the last several months. Please pray that all those in the abortion industry will come to know Jesus.
We can also come alongside the unborn by financially supporting organizations that help women in crisis pregnancies. Church of the Resurrection supports Caring Network, a local ministry that provides financial aid, medical assistance, continuing education, and longer-term childcare help. Families at Rez have provided meals, childcare, and companionship to two women and their children through Caring Network.
I am excited by God’s work at Rez in so many ways. In serving the smallest of His children, we are serving Jesus.
Here are some practical steps you can take to get involved:
- Come pray with me and other Rez volunteers at the clinic in Downers Grove on a Friday morning. Email me for details: booksbb2003@yahoo.com.
- Support Caring Network, a great local resource for women in crisis pregnancies. Learn more in this video.
- Encourage those you know who have had an abortion to seek healing through Restore After Abortion or contact Gabi Reczek at greczek2000@yahoo.com.
- Support pro-life candidates in local elections. Please visit Illinois Citizens for Life.
For more information about how you can help, visit Sanctity of Life.
Michelle Lapeyre is a teacher and a homeschool mother of three. She also loves reading, playing music, and serving on Rez’s Sanctity of Life team.
Watch her video:
