There is a place in Houston, Texas called “Planned Parenthood”. Every Saturday when I first arrived here in Houston nearly 6 years ago, I would wake up on a Saturday morning early and drive down to the location off the Gulf Freeway where just before 7 a.m., I would join the few others already there and begin the prayers of the rosary for the unborn. Why? Because starting that early in the morning, cars would drive up to the entrance of the gates patrolled by the security people assigned to wave the cars in, and do it so quickly to avoid the pro-life sidewalk counselors from reaching the occupants first; to try and save one more baby at a time from it’s unknown destiny, “Abortion”.
No one wants to hear about this much, they just don’t. The sidewalk is not just for those who walk to avoid the pitfalls of traffic. It’s a place where those who know the life inside the mother’s womb is not just tissue, but a human life and each day of the week in this high-rise building, the lives of the unborn are ended. To be a sidewalk counselor takes courage, a firm belief in God and his creation of human life from the beginning of conception to birth. Every single day, more than 3,000 American babies are killed by abortion. In this place, open 6 days a week from 7 a.m. to almost 1 p.m. 12-15 abortions take place. Multiply that by 7 and you have over 100 babies gone by weeks end.
What does the sidewalk counselor do? They simply reach out to those entering the facility by handing out pamphlets and facts on what they are about to decide and to hopefully have them reconsider and know that just a few feet away is a mobile bus with nurses and techs to give freely an ultrasound and answer question’s that will show that the life growing inside is not simply tissue but a human life.
Sidewalk Counselors are often met with harsh words, vulgarity, and intimidation by those at the entrance, threatening that if the sidewalk counselor steps on the grass and does not stay on the public sidewalk, that they will be arrested. There have been times when an individual has approached the sidewalk counselor with hostility and near physical contact. The sidewalk itself becomes the place to pray, to kneel, to walk, a free zone from arrest. Summer’s heat and winters cold, with rain at times, it does not stop the sidewalk counselor’s goal to save one baby at a time.
This Christmas let us remember the sidewalk counselors in prayer and pray for the little ones within the mother’s womb, that the father’s and mothers will choose life, and each day leads to an end of abortion.
When man decides to be the “counterfeit” god who decides the death of the unborn; he ultimately puts himself in the hands of an angry God who is the true author of life. The devil hates life and especially jumps for joy at the murder of the innocents. How strange that here in the good U. S. of A. our constitution guantees the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all except the helpless baby. Convicted murderers have more rights?
God bless the sidewalk counselors and you also Nightingale for shining a light in this darkness of true evil.