Anne Reed
AFA Journal staff writer
January 2014 – In 1967, Colorado legalized abortion for rape, incest, significant fetal anomaly or threat to the mother’s health. Thirteen states followed suit with similar legislation before the infamous Roe v Wade decision of 1973 spread a blanket of legalized abortion across the nation.
We have just realized our forty-first year of legalized abortion. We’ve seen a wide array of reactions including unbridled anger and unconscionable violence. But more commonly, God’s people have ignored the reality, passively accepted it and in many cases, participated in it.
We have watched the giants: the political machine, the angry feminists, guilt inducing terms like “a woman’s right to choose” and “reproductive health care.” And it is impossible to overlook the increasingly powerful, tax-funded empire of Planned Parenthood, the nation’s biggest abortion provider.
The worth of new life growing in the mother’s womb is now second guessed, and laws give human beings the authority to make the determination as to whether those lives will be terminated.
Confronting a compromising church
Last fall, AFA Journal was on the scene at the Memphis, Tennessee, Race for Grace sponsored by a local Protestant church. The 5K race benefited three organizations, one of them a local abortion clinic.
Weeks earlier, Darin Day and John Brindley had heard about the race and scheduled a meeting with the pastor in an attempt to convince him with Scripture that his support of an abortion clinic was inconsistent with faith in Christ. He was both leading his flock astray and creating a stumbling block for onlookers. Although the conversation was amiable, their efforts did not change his mind.
So the men moved forward in a manner consistent with Matthew 18:15-20 and 1 Timothy 3:15. They spearheaded a peaceful and educational call to repentance among runners the day of the 5K. Participants lined the streets with signs that read, “How many kilometers must you run to justify murder?” and “Your church supports murdering babies.”
The scene that day revealed a contrast as clear as black and white – a startling degree of compromise on one side, and a strong show of courage on the other.
Day and Brindley are leaders in the Abolitionist Society of Memphis-Mid South, which holds to the tenets of AHA (Abolish Human Abortion). These abolitionists aim to transform the culture and society by God’s grace with the gospel of Jesus Christ and His holy law, which clearly identifies murder as evil. They adopt an uncompromising spirit in the face of prevailing injustices and will not go with the multitude to permit evil (Exodus 23:2). They refuse to sit idly by while oppression and violence run rampant in the culture (Isaiah 10:1-4).
The uncompromising abolitionist mentality seems to be catching on. An abolitionist is not interested in regulating evil, but ending it. Students for Life have come to use the term “abolition” perhaps as much or more than “pro-life” in their communications. Their banners and signs often read, “Courageously abolishing abortion” and “Raising up young abolitionists.”
Rising up, standing strong
At a recent state level Students for Life Leadership Summit, speakers representing personhood were well received among high school and college students in attendance. Personhood fights to uphold the value without exception of every human being created in the image of God and is gaining momentum across the states.
In addition to the uncompromising nature of the abolitionist rising on the scene, young people are moving into leadership roles and using innovative methods to reach their counterparts.
Joe Baker recalls being invited to witness the use of a mobile pregnancy center by a friend who had participated in an evangelistic mission trip in New York City. “The first time I saw a mobile unit being used, it just blew my mind that anyone would board the bus, particularly the bus that they were using,” Baker said. “It would probably have gone to the junk yard if they didn’t get it for free.”
Baker and others saw many pregnant women choose life as a result of stepping onto that old bus that day, and their lives were changed. They began to brainstorm about how to bring a new level of excellence to the mobile ultrasound concept nationwide. This gave birth to a vision that would soon become known as Save the Storks, a grassroots non-profit organization that seeks to partner with pregnancy resource centers (PRC) around the country empowering abortion-minded mothers to choose life and to share with them the news of Jesus Christ.
If STS founders wanted a provocative conversation starter in a name, it seems they accomplished their goal. Why would such a serious ministry have a name like Save the Storks? Aren’t we talking about babies and not birds? Storks don’t deliver babies, women do. STS focuses on rescuing the mother, and in the process the child is saved.
STS prefers to park the buses near abortion clinics, but depending on local circumstances, they occasionally locate at a PRC or other appropriate site. STS is currently working with several PRCs to help them with planning and securing a fully functioning mobile ultrasound unit unique to their specific mission. These mobile units are no junkyard buses, but rather bright blue Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans with eye-catching logos. Funds are raised on a national scale, and STS helps the center significantly with upfront costs as well as grants for monthly expenses.
A skilled and experienced sidewalk counselor provides two weeks of on-site training for staff and volunteers who will be counseling on the sidewalks of abortion clinics. The trainer stresses the importance of approaching women with an attitude of brokenness and grief, and never anger or judgment. Clinic workers who choose to leave their jobs at the abortion clinic are offered a three-month salary grant followed by help with finding employment and Christian counseling.
STS is developing a plan to go mobile this spring with larger units that will be used on college campuses for STI (sexually transmitted infection) testing. These large buses will be decked out so that college students will be intrigued and comfortable with stepping up for STI testing as well as pregnancy testing and sonograms. Through their branding, they hope to relay the message, “We care about your sexual health … we want you to care about yourself and we are here to support you.”
Whether we are talking about the abolitionists calling out the wayward church or young hipsters who are reaching out to college students and equipping PRCs, they exemplify ordinary believers who saw the injustice of abortion and were moved to creative action. The compromise of silence and inaction was no longer tolerable.
“Be strong and courageous” became their battle cry. They went beyond calling themselves “pro-life” and instead call out to God, “Lord, send me.” 
Abolish Human Abortion
P.O. Box 872767
Vancouver, WA 98687-2767
abolishhumanabortion.com
866-376-3855
Save the Storks
c/o New Horizons Foundation
5585 Erindale Dr.Ste. 201
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
savethestorks.com
970-387-8675
Students for Life of America
9255 Center Street, Suite 300
Manassas, VA 20110
Studentsforlife.org
571-379-7261
Personhood USA
P.O. Box 486
Arvada, CO 80001
personhoodusa.com
202-595-3500
