Iowans Join 40 Day Campaign to End Abortion

Iowa prolife activists for the next 39 days will pray, fast and hold vigils for the end of abortion in Iowa (and nationwide).  The  40 Days for Life kicked off yesterday, September 25, and will run until November 2nd.  40 Days of Life started in 2004 in College Station, TX and in 2007 expanded nationally.  According to the groups website, 40 Days for Life “is a pro-life campaign with a vision to access God’s power through prayer, fasting, and peaceful vigil to end abortion.”

This is a non-political, non-partisan facet of the pro-life movement.  It also breaks across denominational lines.  They state their mission “is to bring together the body of Christ in a spirit of unity during a focused 40 day campaign of prayer fasting, and peaceful activism, with the purpose of repentance, to seek God’s favor to turn hearts and minds from a  culture of death to a culture of life, thus bringing an end to abortion.”

Since 2007 the results have been amazing.

• 2,480 individual campaigns have taken place in 501 cities
• More than 575,000 have joined together in an historic display of unity to pray and fast for an end to abortion
• More than 16,000 church congregations have participated in the 40 Days for Life campaigns
• Reports document 7,536 lives that have been spared from abortion — and those are just the ones they know about
• 83 abortion workers have quit their jobs and walked away from the abortion industry
• 39 abortion facilities completely shut down following local 40 Days for Life campaigns (including six in Iowa)
• Hundreds of women and men have been spared from the tragic effects of abortion, including a lifetime of regrets
• More than 2,800 news stories have been featured in newspapers, magazines, radio shows and TV programs from coast to coast … and overseas
• Many people with past abortion experiences have stepped forward to begin post-abortion healing and recovery

“Since its inception in 2007, 40 Days for Life participants have witnessed nearly 8,000 unborn lives saved, their mothers spared from the effects of abortion.  Additionally, more than 80 clinic workers have walked away from the abortion industry and more than 40 abortion clinics across the country have shut their doors for good!  This happens when we prayerfully take to the sidewalks outside our local Planned Parenthood abortion clinic”, stated Jenifer Bowen, Executive Director of Iowa Right to Life.

“If that wasn’t exciting enough, since March 2012, SIX Iowa cities have seen their local Planned Parenthood close their doors for good—these locations being Storm Lake, Knoxville, Newton, a Des Moines satellite office, Spencer and Fort Madison.  Most of these were home to ongoing prayer vigils.

“Unplanned ~ Unintended ~ Inconvenient.  Truly our society has devised all kinds of innocuous words to describe a child in their mother’s womb.  But what they do not tell you is that every single time they use one of those words to describe a pregnancy ~ there is a unique, hand-crafted original soul created by the Creator of the world.  And that is why it matters every single time we show up outside abortion clinics, with prayerful hearts and outstretched hands to women and men in crisis.  Why it matters each and every time a precious life is saved—because every single life ~ born and unborn is a GIFT. A priceless, matchless, irreplaceable gift”, concluded Bowen.

There are campaigns focused on 11 abortion clinics in Iowa during this 40 Days of Life.  They are:

• Ankeny: Planned Parenthood (704 North Ankeny Blvd, Ankeny, IA) vigil schedule here.
• Bettendorf: Planned Parenthood (2751 Tech Drive, Bettendorf, IA) vigil schedule here.
• Cedar Falls: Planned Parenthood (2520 Melrose Dr., Cedar Falls, IA) vigil schedule here.
• Cedar Rapids: Planned Parenthood (3425 First Ave SE, Cedar Rapids, IA) vigil schedule here.
• Council Bluffs: Planned Parenthood (1604 2nd Ave., Council Bluffs, IA) vigil schedule here.
• Des Moines: Planned Parenthood (1000 E. Army Post Rd., Des Moines, IA) vigil schedule here.
• Dubuque: Planned Parenthood (3365 Hillcrest Rd., Dubuque, IA) vigil schedule here.
• Iowa City: Emma Goldman Clinic (227 North Dubuque St., Iowa City, IA) vigil schedule here.
• Red Oak: Planned Parenthood (950 Senate Ave., Red Oak, IA) vigil schedule here.
• Sioux City: Planned Parenthood (4409 Stone Ave., Sioux City, IA) vigil schedule here.
• Urbandale: Planned Parenthood (10534 New York Ave., Urbandale, IA) vigil schedule here.

If you live outside of Iowa you can find a vigil site in your area here.  Feel free to email me stories & photos at shane@caffeinatedthoughts.com.  I’d love to share them!