Marching doesn’t save babies. You do.

January 26, 2015January 19, 2017 ~ Laura ~ 1 Comment

We’re back from the March for Life and different blog posts have been going through my mind for the last day. I could talk about . . .

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how inspiring it was to leave campus with a few hundred people who were PUMPED about being pro-life
how discouraging it is that far less than a quarter of those people will stay engaged in pro-life activities this semester
the awesomeness of ecumenism at the March
blatant misrepresentation of the March by the media
the need to be careful to not make life an issue only for religious people
how so many people check “pro-life” off their to-do list after marching but don’t do anything else
the pro-“choice” people who tried to stop the March and refused to comply with the police
the civil right movement parallels
politicians who are not practicing what they preach
the new brand of feminism making waves in pro-life circles
the ridiculous fact that people can’t agree a 20 week abortion ban makes sense

There’s so, so much to be said. I’ve been reading, looking at all the pictures and soaking it all in – trying to figure out what I want to say. And obviously from the list, you can see there are plenty of thoughts that could be developed more. But so much of them are negative. So much of my thoughts after the March are disappointing.

Because I know the march is only one day.

Marching is one day – one battle. But our victory over the culture of death depends on winning the overall war, not just a single battle each year.

Being in a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people reminds me that I am not alone in my beliefs. It also reminds me that when it does feel lonely and things get frustrating, I have to persevere. I cannot let this war happen in our world without putting on some armor and doing my part. Lives depend on it.

God has called each of us in our own way to be part of challenging the powers that be who tell us abortion and other attacks on human life are okay. We are not called to chill on our iPads or spend hours on Facebook. We are freaking meant to

CHANGE

THE

WORLD.

Maybe it’s just smiling at a stranger today, volunteering somewhere each month, or sending a note home to your momma. Maybe it’s getting back to church. Or standing up for the truth in everyday conversations. Or taking time to educate yourself. Or making a plan for how to integrate your pro-life beliefs into your job. Or just striving to be really, really good at whatever you’ve been given talent in.

Whatever it is, just do it.

Please don’t wait until next year’s march. Because guess what? If we all just rolled up our sleeves, did the dirty work, and stopped making excuses it would be amazing.

During a recent homily, a priest talked about how we try to fit God into our daily schedules. But in reality, true peace only comes when we abandon ourselves to His will. We have to ask and pursue what He made us for, because nothing else will quench our thirst.

Are you with me? Yes, it makes me slightly squeamish too. That’s part of why “abandon” is my theme of the year. I need the challenge. I need to work on asking God to use me to accomplish his plan for the world, not trying to figure out how I can fix ALL the things.

I can’t. You can’t.

This frustrates me to no end because being pro-life is simple. Every life is a gift. That’s it. That people can not or refuse to recognize that makes me sad for those who have not seen the beauty of it. Seeing life as a beautiful gift changes how I live, and knowing people have not encountered this beauty makes me want to cry. There are people making traumatic choices because they are broken and lost and hurt and we need to help them.

Please will you try to not forget about this?

Don’t forget the united power of hundreds of thousands of people.

Don’t forget that people are dying.

Don’t forget that people who don’t know better depend on us to give them the new message.

Our world is crying for lack of love and hope – the two most basic things the pro-life movement is all about. The good news is that evil has been conquered by love. Love always wins. And each of us is given the tools to be part of history by simply standing up.

So stand up.

Know what you believe.

Talk about it.

Fight for it.

Walk the walk.

Because simply moving our feet doesn’t save babies. But we can. We can touch hearts. We can be good friends to our brothers and sisters in a broken world. We can show people the beauty of life through our witness. God can use any of us to do great things. We can join together and tell our society we’ve had enough of its lies. We can give people hope. We can love people we come in contact with.

A single march isn’t going to change the world. But you can do something. You are capable of being a witness to the beauty of life. Your first step – our first steps – are just the beginning of the end of death.

So let’s start today.

To Life,

P.S. Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin’ or by email.

What the pro-life movement has taught me

January 19, 2015 ~ Laura ~ Leave a comment

My first memorable contact with the pro-life movement was going to some sort of rally around 9 years old. It was at our state capital and all I can really remember are the graphic pictures.

Fast forward to 2011 when I went to the Walk for Life West Coast and BAM. That fall I started working for Live Action, and the rest, you could say, is history. At first, learning about the injustice of abortion made me incredulous and sad. How could people think it’s okay? Who would do such a thing? So I did things like self-righteously post something on Planned Parenthood’s Facebook page. And then I would argue with the people who did things like call me a lesbian nun (yes, that was a real comment – my favorite insult!)

Now, four years later, I don’t think about it the same way. So here’s what I’ve learned.

1. Being pro-life isn’t all about babies.

Statistically speaking, abortion has wiped out more lives than any other single tragic event/disease/etc in human history. That’s a pretty big deal. But the fact is that babies aren’t given life if their moms don’t choose to give it to them. So you have to reach the woman first. You have to genuinely love her, because let’s be real:

So please avoid fetus tunnel vision at all costs.

2. Sometimes being pro-life makes life hard

When couples receive the news their baby will most likely not live long after birth, many would like to take the “easy” route by having an abortion and “trying again”. But couples like Trevor and Hayley show us that making a hard choice that respects the life of people like their daughter Veyda may be hard, but it is always worth it.

3. Working in the pro-life movement is inherently sacrificial

Want to stand out in bone-chilling cold praying for people you’ve never met? Is having people remove themselves from your life a thrilling possibility? Does being yelled and cussed at sound like your cup of tea? If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you just might be called to get involved in pro-life work!

On a more serious note, making your mission to defend other people makes a lot of people grow in humility and love for others. Why? Because we’re not the ones being aborted. The majority of people who do pro-life work do it for other people. Some people have personal stories that drove them to do pro-life work, but other people like me not so much. I do it because I care about people. And you know what I’ve found? That saying “You find yourself by losing yourself in service to others” is spot on. If more people got involved in pro-life work we would lose a lot of the selfishness in the world.

4. We don’t agree on everything, but we can all agree on one thing

LGBT pro-life group? Secular pro-life group? Great. We agree about life. That’s what we’re here for. If you want to grab some coffee and chat other issues, great. But when we do pro-life work, we’ve got to be able to work together toward a common goal without letting our differences divide us.

5. Being pro-life means ALL life at ALL stages

Consistency is key, or being pro-life doesn’t make sense. We have to always be pro-life, even when it comes to issues that don’t involve smiling babies. Take, for example: euthanasia, death penalty, the porn industry, and human trafficking. Let’s talk about the over-sexualization of people in the media too. There are so many issues dealing with human dignity that we have to be careful to not limit the pro-life movement by putting it in a tiny box labeled “abortion”. It’s so much more.

6. Love conquers all

Ultimately, we do what we do because we are called to love our brothers and sisters. We see a hurt world suffering at the hands of evil. But we have hope because love is stronger than death. Love has already conquered evil on the cross, and it’s our job now to show we the world that “We are the Easter people and hallelujah is our song”.

Like many things in life, being active in the pro-life movement is not easy. But it’s worth it. It has challenged me, pushed me beyond my comfort zone, and givens me so many reasons to have hope for our world. It is raising up a generation of soldiers for truth.

It’s been 4 years now doing this crazy stuff, and I look forward to the many years to come. As I attempt to use my life to show the world the beauty and dignity of every human person, may we work together tirelessly in this movement. After all, when people look back on history and how we dealt with threats to the dignity of life, what side do you want to say you were on? Did you stand by the sidelines and watch? Or did you do something?

It’s up to you.

To Life,

P.S. Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin’ or by email.

It’s the little things . . .

September 24, 2014September 24, 2014 ~ Laura ~ 1 Comment

It’s a wonderful thing to be pro-life. It’s better to talk with people about it and be educated. Even better? Live your life in a way where it’s clear what your priorities are. Be pro-life in every fiber of your being in the way you love and show compassion.

Which category do you fall under?

Sometimes I get frustrated because so many people fall under the first category – maybe the second.

As a student at a Catholic college, it’s nice that the majority of people here see the core of this issue in the same way as me. We know life is important, and yadda yadda yadda. We’re heard it all. Yay babies.

That’s great, but the fact is that our lives show what our priorities are. It’s disheartening to me to see so many people go on the March for Life, pose for cute pro-life pictures, but then never join us for other events. Never come outside clinics. Never learn to sidewalk counsel. Never come to an abortion dialogue workshop. Never respond to emails about getting involved. Never experience a life-changing moment where your witness touched someone.

It makes me sad sometimes because I have experienced what you’re missing out on.

This movement is a movement of love, and being part of it radically changed my life. I cannot begin to comprehend how much time I have devoted to this cause, and honestly there’s no way it’s going to stop. This is what I do and it’s part of who I am. But could you join me sometimes?

Show us what you believe in the little moments of everyday – don’t just post about it. Don’t just do the cute stuff, because that’s too easy. Join me in the behind the scenes work that no one sees, because in my experience, that’s where your true character shows. Let your feet speak for you sometimes. Let your life show others what you believe in. It’s easy to hold signs and march. Believe me, because I’ve done it. And it’s great to march and hold signs and post things. But it’s not enough. Being pro-life is about being pro-ALL-life.

So show me.

Join me.

I dare you.

f8f5e-237161_1257739195062-8res_284_320 Come pray with us. Did you know 40 Days for Life begins on today? Join us for abortion clinic trips. Who needs sleep anyway? Come to our meetings. Join us for our ice cream social. Contribute your talents. None of us can do everything, but we can all do something. And together our little actions add up to a movement bigger than ourselves.

Not everyone is going to jump completely into this movement, but we’re all called to be part of it somehow. Maybe you could design graphics, bake for us, write for us, or be a prayer warrior. As a student now, you have time to do more than you will at any other point of time. So stop procrastinating and join us. Participate in 40 Days for Life. Come to senior center trips. Whatever it is, show me. Dare to do something great, because good just isn’t enough.

We were made for greatness. Now let’s get down to business.

To Life,

P.S. Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin’ or by email!

Changing my approach

August 20, 2014 ~ Laura ~ 6 Comments

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted an opinion piece for Live Action News, or much of anything of the same genre over here. It’s not because my views have changed. No, I still am serving as president of Ravens Respect Life and had an internship with a life affirming medical pregnancy center this summer.

But it’s true that my view has evolved to some degree.

Looking back on my articles, I’ve written about how some people are kind of crazy, Planned Parenthood doesn’t follow the rules, Obama problems, doing the pro-life thing wrong, and medical standard being all sorts of crazy. While it’s good to be informed, and expose lies while holding the truth high as a torch for all to see, it is not good to do this at the expense of other people.

I don’t know that my writing has ever hurt anyone. It’s something I posted about constantly in the past – and I did notice quite a few people “de-friending” me. Was it because of my beliefs? With the sensitive subject matter, I wouldn’t be surprised. And while I still don’t shy away from confrontation and would be happy to talk about these issue with you anytime, the days of Facebook debates are over. They have been for a while, actually.

If you’ve ever participated in debates (because let’s face it, they’re not usually just a “discussion”) online about sensitive life issues, you know that rush of OWNING the conversation. You know when something is just so dumb, you have the perfect comeback that will have everyone and their mother rushing to find sunglasses because the light o’ truth is just that bright.

Um, wrong. Wrong answer. Please don’t do that.

I have. And I loved it. But it is no longer my approach.

Thinking about this more, I realize that there is no place for inflammatory language in this movement. I’m not a complete hippie, but isn’t love what this is all about? We love women so much that we have to show them that we deserve better than abortion and contraception. We love guys so much that we tell them to man up and take care of us women and stop abandoning their children. We love children so much that we will fight for their lives. We love abortion clinic workers so much that we want to expose the truth of their industry, and lead them to a better life.

But did you ever love someone so much that you shut up about your agenda for a second?

Think about it.

You don’t prove much by holding a sign and posting things on social media about “the abortion holocaust”. Whoohoo. You have hands to hold a sign, and you can copy and past links. Yay you! Well, not really. Did you talk with your family member who lost a baby to miscarriage? Did you offer sincere condolences when a loved one of a friend died? Are you praying for people who hate you? Did you give that homeless person a snack? Do you try to love all the people in your life, even if they disagree with you?

Newsflash: if we can’t love people without saying “But abortion!” “But you use contraception!” then we’re doing love wrong.

Like Mother Teresa said:

“Each one of them is Jesus in disguise.”

Yup. Even people I disagree with. Even people who are mean. Because you know? I probably have been too. So I’m starting to approach this differently, and I’m starting now. I do want to live my life being that light – the person everyone knows will stand up for the truth. That’s important. I also want to be a person who others know will take you as you are and treat you with love and respect.

So I promise to not shove my burning torch of truth in your face, honestly.

Something Maya Angelou said seems appropriate here:

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

I want you to know in the fiber of your being, no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve done, no matter what you believe, that I believe in you. I believe you are capable of incredible things, and I believe you were made for greatness. My sincere hope is to communicate this better in the way I write.

I don’t want to write about how people are bad anymore. I want to inspire you. I want to use my life to show you how epic our calling to fearlessly pursue a higher purpose is.

This is what I’m doing today to start that. Will you join me?

To Life,

P.S. Connect with me on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Bloglovin’ or by email!

World Down Syndrome Day 2014

March 20, 2014June 25, 2014 ~ Laura ~ 1 Comment

Happy World Down Syndrome Day 🙂

Today is the day we celebrate people who are just like you and me, except that they have 3 of their #21 chromosomes instead of 2, which gives them down syndrome (3/21, get it?!). This day always makes me think of my brother Robert.

What I always hear from people who have family members who are rocking a 3rd 21st chromosome is that being part of simply loving them brings so much joy to their lives. For some reason God gave most people with down syndrome (as far as I’ve seen and heard) the ability to love others unconditionally, being totally unaware or accepting of their flaws.The rest of us? We probably have to work harder at it. It’s so beautiful to see families loving and embracing their children with down syndrome because it turns out that having down syndrome isn’t the end of the world. As you’ll see in these videos, it is a blessing to so many people.

IDSC’s 2014 Video

Dear Future Mom [of a baby with DS]

IDSC’s 2013 Video

IDSC’s 2012 Video

In America over 90% of parents who are told their unborn child has down syndrome choose abortion. Remember to always thank parents for choosing LIFE, even when it isn’t 100% what you were expecting. After all, none of our lives are really “normal” and you never know what amazing things a person – down syndrome or not – is going to with the gift of their life.