. . . because action speaks louder than words.
League history, NOW v. Scheidler, Action News, Joe Scheidler, League staff
League history, NOW v. Scheidler, Action News, Joe Scheidler, League staff
Q & A on abortion, the unborn child, where we stand on the issues and more
Helping abortion-bound women choose life for their babies
Unmasking the truth about abortion in the public square
Our youth outreach, raising up a new generation of pro-life leaders
Abortion industry converts tell the inside story
News and commentary from the Pro-Life Action League
Sidewalk counseling is, in my estimation, the single most valuable activity that a pro-life person can engage in. When pro-lifers counsel at an abortion clinic they come between the baby who is scheduled to be killed and the doctor who will do the killing.
Counseling goes to the heart of abortion. Babies are killed in abortion clinics or hospitals or doctor's offices, and pro-lifers go there to intercede for the baby's life. Our job is to get more people on the streets to stand between the killers and the victims.
There is no one right way to do sidewalk counseling. The counselor has to know human nature to be able to understand the crisis the woman is facing, and appreciate what has driven her to this unnatural solution.
The counselor must believe that the woman can be turned back. In Chicago, 25 women were stopped from having abortions in a single morning at a clinic on Michigan Avenue, because there were sidewalk counselors present.
You have to personalize the child to be an effective sidewalk counselor. To illustrate: If someone grabbed your three-year-old, threw the child into an automobile and drove off, what would you do? Write a letter, complain to your congressman? You would pursue the kidnapper and rescue your child. If he took the child into a building, you would go into that building. You would try to save him.
That is what we do when we counsel at an abortion clinic. We believe so firmly in the humanity of the unborn child that we put ourselves between the child and the abortionist. But we must be armed with knowledge and skill. We have to do the saving through words, actions, right attitude, and prayer.
[Back to Top]It may be necessary for the sidewalk counselor to get the woman's name and phone number and help her during her pregnancy. It is not always enough to talk a woman out of an abortion. The counselor may need to follow up. A counselor may even need to help. Perhaps the counselor may want to talk to parents, husband, or boyfriend. Whatever the problem causing her to want an abortion, it must be solved.
As we said, sidewalk counseling is probably the single most valuable pro-life activity we can engage in. If done on a large scale, it may prove to be one of the main means of stopping abortion. If abortion clinics don't have customers, they go out of business. Two or three counselors, on a regular basis, at each of the abortion clinics in the United States, could save a hundred-thousand lives each year. Many clinics would be forced to close.
Requirements for effective counseling are an interest in people, compassion and empathy. The best counselors are good listeners, since people often find their own solutions if they have someone to listen while they talk out their problems. Counseling is nine-tenths listening and one-tenth advising.
Another essential requirement for sidewalk counselors is a sound morality and concern for the other person's future. Abortion clinic counselors give women short-term solutions, without considering the long-term consequences.
Abortion involves thousands of lives. A woman who ends a pregnancy ends generations. A counselor who understands the magnitude of the abortion decision could never counsel for an abortion.
Thousands of sidewalk counselors all over the country save babies every day of the year. Each approaches the challenge differently, applying his own technique, but each with a special talent and grace for saving God's little ones. We hope you are one of them.
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