Waiting for a Sign: Faith & Justice February 2018 by Faith & Justice

FAITH FEBRUARY 2018

JUSTICE Vo l u m e X I , I s s u e I

Waiting For A Sign ADF asks the Supreme Court to strike down laws forcing pro-life clinics to promote abortion

Penny Nance, Abby Johnson, Kristan Hawkins, and more Powerhouse Pro-life, Pro-Women Leaders PAG E 8

Ryan Bomberger: The Disorder Behind Today's "Equality" PAG E 1 7

Lila Rose: Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Next for the Pro-Life Movement PAG E 2 1

Alliance Defending Freedom

CONTENTS COVER STORY 11

Waiting For A Sign

ADF asks the Supreme Court to strike down laws forcing pro-life clinics to promote abortion

COLUMNS 2 Minutes with Michael

What Goes Around

3 News & Quick Takes

Case Updates from Around the World 5 Jack’s Day in Court

Follow ADF at the U.S. Supreme Court Oral Arguments for Cake Artist Jack Phillips 8 Alliance Profile

10 Ways Women Answer: Is Pro-Life Pro-Women? 17 Opinion

Ryan Bomberger on What Motivates Him to Fight for Design over Disorder

Letters to the Editor

s a former Constitutional Law professor, I’m proud to support the work you do. — Rod S. —

’ve been an ADF advocate for many years, being so grateful to God for establishing it as a defender of faith and justice! Thank you for yet another superbly relevant and compelling issue of Faith & Justice (for November ’17)! — Jim A. —

just got my copy and have already read it cover to cover. Thank you for the insight into what’s going on overseas. Thank you for Jeff Sessions’ piece—the man is under such attack. The survivors of ISIS—thank you for bringing light to this topic. Otherwise, I don’t know where we’d ever hear about what has actually happened. Your organization coming alongside them must give them much strength and hope to endure. I am grateful to have His blessings to give your group some support. Your organization is doing a superb job in these hard times, rest assured! — Beth M. —

hank you to you and your staff for your contributions and dedication to liberty and freedom. Loved your November issue of Faith & Justice. — Art G. —

Facebook.com/AllianceDefendingFreedom Twitter – @ADF_Magazine Instagram.com/AllianceDefendingFreedom YouTube.com/AllianceDefends Questions or comments on this issue? Email Editor@ADFlegal.org. 15100 N. 90th Street, Scottsdale, AZ 85260

19 My View

When a Professor Tried to Erase My Rights, ADF Gave Me a Voice 21

ADFlegal.org

800-835-5233

February 2018 Vol. XI, Issue 1 Editor Emily Conley

Senior Writer Chris Potts

Art Director/Photography Bruce Ellefson Jonathan Marshall

Contributors Ryan Bomberger Emily Conley Michael Farris Chris Potts Bernadette Tasy

Q&A

Lila Rose on the Future of the Pro-Life Movement Referral to websites not produced by Alliance Defending Freedom is for informational purposes only and does not constitute an endorsement.

Minutes With Michael

What Goes Around By Michael P. Farris

Beginnings intrigue me. At certain mile markers and turning points of my life, it’s just interesting to see where a particular road started, to bring me to where I am now.

t could be that my appointment with the U.S. Supreme Court this spring began in a parking lot in the state of Washington, one night more than 35 years ago. I had recently launched the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and was teaching a seminar on secular humanism. Afterward, a young couple who’d attended, Tom and Laura Glessner, struck up a conversation with me, out by our cars. We’ve been friends ever since. Some 10 years later, Tom decided to launch an organization of his own, the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA). He talked with me about what all would be involved in launching a memberbased legal defense association defending pregnancy resource centers. One of the things he needed, I said, was strong financial support — and as it happened, Alliance Defending Freedom provided some of that, to get NIFLA off the ground. Now, 25 years farther down the road, the friendship and the alliance are both as strong as ever. ADF is representing NIFLA, and Tom asked me to argue the case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

The case revolves around a California law requiring licensed pro-life medical centers that offer free services to pregnant women to post a disclosure saying that the state provides free or low-cost abortion and contraception services. That disclosure must include a phone number that will make it easier for women to contact an abortionist. Though other states around the country have struck down similar laws, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit is upholding the California statute — so all parties are looking to the Supreme Court to settle the issue. [See story, p. 11.] This case is similar to our recent arguments on behalf of cake artist Jack Phillips, and the many other “rights of conscience” cases ADF has been defending these last few years. All of them come down to increasingly aggressive efforts by the government to compel people to promote politically correct causes that violate their individual conscience and religious beliefs. It’s a blunt threat to our most basic civil liberties, which is why ADF is pouring so many of its best resources — legal, material, spiritual, personal — into the fray. It’s also why I hope you’ll be praying specifically for me as I present the NIFLA case to the court. Not just because I’d like to do well in my first Supreme Court appearance in 30 years. But because, if we lose, forcing pro-life centers to advertise for abortionists is only the beginning.

News & Quick Takes Case Updates from Around the World

California California Gov. Jerry Brown vetoed AB 569, a bill that would have prohibited churches, religious colleges, religious non-profit organizations, and pro-life pregnancy care centers from having faith-based codes of conduct with regard to abortion and sexual behavior. “Gov. Brown was right to veto this immensely unconstitutional bill, which would have been an unprecedented overreach on the part of the State of California,” says ADF Legal Counsel Elissa Graves. “The First Amendment doesn’t allow the state to order churches and other faith-based groups to violate their most deeply held convictions. They have the freedom to live according to their faith and to require those who work for them to do the same.“

Chicago, Illinois ADF attorneys filed a supporting legal brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit on behalf of Foundation Jérôme Lejeune, Saving Downs, and Down Pride, which aid and advocate for people with Down syndrome and other genetic intellectual disabilities, and Women Speak for Themselves, a national grassroots organization, to support an Indiana law banning abortions based solely on a child’s disability, race, or sex. The law protecting babies with Down syndrome and other genetic disabilities was stopped from going into effect after Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky filed suit. “Nothing is medically necessary or constitutionally protected about an abortion that is committed simply because a child has Down syndrome or isn’t the desired race or sex," said Denise Burke, ADF Senior Counsel. "The fact that Planned Parenthood is opposing a law like Indiana’s tells you what America’s Number One abortion supplier really cares about.” 3

New York In Volume X, Issue II of F&J, we shared college student Norvilia Etienne’s story of applying for “registered” club status, seeking to join more than 100 student organizations—including pro-abortion clubs—that are allowed to reserve meeting space, invite speakers, and receive funding from mandatory student activity fees. Officials delayed and then rejected the Students for Life club’s application without explanation. After ADF attorneys filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, the college decided to recognize the group but didn’t agree to revise any policies. Now, in a victory for free speech, the school has agreed to revise its student organization recognition and funding policies to prevent discrimination based on a club’s beliefs.

Atlanta, Georgia Washington, D.C. The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to weigh in on a California law that forces pro-life pregnancy care centers to provide free advertising for the abortion industry. In March 2017, ADF attorneys representing a pro-life pregnancy care center network and two independent centers asked the high court to hear the case. ADF CEO, President, and General Counsel Michael Farris will be arguing the case before the high court in the spring.

Cincinnati, Ohio

A court ruled that the City of Atlanta unjustly discriminated against and fired former Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran (Faith & Justice, Volume X, Issue II). After activists who don’t agree with Cochran’s Christian views on sex and marriage complained about a brief mention of the topics in a 162-page book Cochran had written on his personal time, Mayor Kasim Reed suspended Cochran for 30 days without pay and announced that he would have to complete “sensitivity training.” Reed then fired him, even though a city investigation concluded that he did not discriminate against anyone. This victory will protect the speech of other government employees who want to write books or speak about matters unrelated to work.

ADF attorneys filed a federal lawsuit against Miami University of Ohio after its officials took numerous actions that shut down a pro-life display at the Hamilton campus, including forcing the Students for Life chapter to post a “trigger warning” in order to conduct a display featuring small crosses placed in the ground to commemorate the lives lost to abortion. The lawsuit challenges the university’s policies that give officials broad powers to determine whether an exhibit can occur and what it can say. In this case, the university officials claimed the pro-life display might cause “emotional trauma“ for those who might view it.

London, England

Brussels, Belgium

United Nations, New York The United Nations Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution in September supporting Iraq in prosecuting members of ISIS/Daesh for crimes committed against religious minorities in the region. The terrorist organization has been perpetrating acts of genocide against Christians, Yazidis, and other religious minorities (See Faith & Justice Volume X, Issue III). The U.N. resolution establishes an investigative team, headed by a special adviser. The team will work with the Iraqi government to collect, preserve, and store evidence of crimes committed by ISIS in Iraq. The creation of the team is critical in ensuring that terrorists are prosecuted for genocide and other crimes against religious minorities. For the first time, the Security Council did not shy away from using the term “genocide.”

We have an update on the story of Tom Mortier (Volume X, Issue 1 of Faith & Justice), whose mother was euthanized for depression without him being informed. After Belgian authorities refused to pursue Mortier’s case, ADF International appealed to the top court in Europe, the European Court of Human Rights. Its findings will impact 800 million Europeans in 47 countries. When euthanasia was first legalized, promises were made that it would be well regulated with strict criteria. But today, due to abuses of the law, 15 years later the number of cases each year has increased by 680% from when it was first legalized. Belgium went further in 2014 by legalizing child euthanasia—there is now no age restriction in Belgium.

The UK Supreme Court heard a case challenging Northern Ireland’s pro-life law. ADF International was part of a group of three who were jointly given permission to make oral statements. In Northern Ireland, it is only possible to have an abortion in very limited circumstances. The challenge to this law seeks to expand reasons that an abortion would be allowed, such as in cases of rape, incest, when the baby has a “fatal foetal abnormality,” and when the baby has a “malformation”. The ADF International legal team, including Director of European Advocacy Robert Clarke, argued that that term, “fatal foetal abnormality” is “unhelpful and unmedical”. Babies diagnosed with these serious conditions can live for hours, days, weeks, months, and sometimes longer, and expanding abortion in this way could also lead to abuses such as ending the lives of babies with disabilities. Clarke also argued that abortion has been shown to not improve women’s mental health, and thus is not a compassionate response. “The concern of [ADF International] is to ensure that through the earthquake, wind, and fire of these proceedings, the Court may hear the still small voice of the unborn child,” said attorney Mark Hill QC (Queen’s Counsel) in his closing arguments. At least 100,000 people today owe their lives to Northern Ireland’s courageous refusal to adopt the Abortion Act in 1967. The rest of the UK has seen abortion numbers rise exponentially since adopting the Abortion Act.

The March for Life is a movement born out of love. You love your families, you love your neighbors, you love our nation, and you love every child, born and unborn, because you believe that every life is sacred, that every child is a precious gift from God.

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President Donald Trump, addressing the 45th March for Life 4

Special Feature

Jack’s Day in Court By Emily Conley

Follow the ADF team and clients during the final preparations and the day of the oral arguments at the U.S Supreme Court for Jack Phillips’s case.

7:00 p.m., Monday, December 4 — With the smells of warm pizza still in the air at the Washington D.C. office conference room, ADF attorneys close the day of final preparations in prayer, lifting up Kristen Waggoner, Senior Vice President, U.S. Legal Division, for Jack Phillips and his family, for safety at the rally outside the courthouse during the arguments, and for hearts to be receptive to Christ by seeing the example of their love. The familiar words of the Lord’s Prayer are echoed by a dozen voices as attorneys, ADF staff, allies, ministry friends, and clients repeat the Lord’s Prayer in unison.

admission line.” Unlike the attorney’s line, which comes with a near guarantee of getting in, the general admission line means camping outside along the courthouse steps in hopes of getting into the court. “It’s a real treat to be here!” Green says, with a shiver.

8:30 p.m. — All available staff pitch in to load boxes of signs into vans for the rally the next morning. Everyone heads for hotels and the prospect of restless sleep and an early morning.

5:15 a.m. — Grace Waggoner, the daughter of Kristen Waggoner, woke up her mom, letting her get a few minutes of extra sleep before her big day.

3:15 a.m., Tuesday, December 5 — A group of warmly bundled ADF attorneys join the general admission line of campers outside the U.S. Supreme Court. “Some of the other attorneys got to go in the ‘attorney’s line,’” said Samuel Green, ADF attorney on the Center for Conscience Initiatives team, “the rest of us got to go in the general

4:00 a.m. — In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, people begin boarding busses to attend the rally. The Pennsylvania Family Institute and other family policy councils across the East Coast arranged for buses to bring supporters to the Supreme Court for the oral arguments.

6:00 a.m. — Outside the U.S Supreme Court, volunteers begin to set up a stage and sound system for the rally. The rally was hosted by The Radiance Foundation, and its CEO and founder, Ryan Bomberger, is emceeing the event. Preparations for the rally included lining up about 40 speakers, ranging from legislators to other ADF clients, such as former fire chief of Atlanta Kelvin Cochran,

filmmakers Carl and Angel Larson, and promotional printer Blaine Adamson. In addition, representatives from many allied organizations like the Heritage Foundation, Concerned Women for America, and the Fredrick Douglass Foundation also spoke at the event. 7:30 a.m. — After a tense consultation with the security personnel and the ACLU’s rally director, organizers of the rally made the call to move the set-up to the left side of the court. “In the seven years I’ve been going to rallies like this, conservatives have always set up on the right side, and our opposition has always set up on the left,” Alison Howard Centofante, ADF Alliance Relations, later explained. This year, the ACLU set up their rally on the right side, and they weren’t interested in moving. “But it ended up being an answer to prayer,” Alison says. “The left side provided greater protection for the stage. And several people told me afterwards that it was the most civil and peaceful rally they’d ever attended.” 8:00 a.m. — The crowd in support of Jack Phillips swells to the sidewalk. Rally organizers and volunteers pass out signs and stickers, while others, like Wally from Fairfax, Virginia, offered to hold large “Justice for Jack” banners. Wally heard about the case on the news, and said he wanted to be at the court today to show his support for Jack. He faithfully held up his end of the banner in the cold for over an hour before allowing a group of high school students to take over. "We’re in a U.S government class this semester, and wanted to show we have Jack’s back,” one of the high school students says. As to how the case relates to what they’re learning in government class, the student explains that if Jack were to lose, “that takes away freedom of choice” because Jack “is saying he wants to choose what he’s involved in.” 8:30 a.m. — Painter Jessica Haas opens the rally with her story of standing for her faith as a contestant in the Miss

Tennessee pageant, when she chose to paint Jesus for the talent portion. That experience helped her identify with Jack Phillips’s desire to remain authentic to his faith and choose the messages he conveys as an artist. During the rally, Jessica created three stunning paintings.

WATCH:

See a time—lapse video of Jessica's amazing paintings:

ADFLEGAL.ORG/FJ-PAINTING

9:40 a.m. — The crowd in support of Jack spills into the street and starts gathering on the other side. “I can’t believe I’m here, actually,” an elderly man stated. “I’m a veteran, and I went to war and fought for freedom in this country. And I can’t believe what I fought for is even up for debate.” 10:00 a.m. — Oral arguments begin inside the courtroom. 11:00 a.m. — Oral arguments were scheduled to conclude, but the Justices extend the time by giving each side an additional ten minutes. 11:07 a.m. — ADF Senior Counsel Matt Sharp wraps up a media interview. When asked how many reporters he’d talked to so far that morning, he laughs. “Probably a dozen! Everyone from podcasters to major news outlets.” 11:35 a.m. — Soon after the oral arguments conclude, Barronelle Stutzman, the owner of Arlene’s Flowers in Washington State, addresses the crowd, sharing her story of being sued after refusing to create custom floral arrangements to celebrate her long-time customer and friend Rob Ingersoll’s same-sex wedding. Barronelle risks

SUPPORT JACK: Your donations enable ADF to defend Jack Phillips at no cost to him.

Donate today at ADFLEGAL.ORG/FJ-MASTERPIECE losing everything she owns, including her home, retirement, and life savings, because the ACLU and her state government are suing her in her personal capacity. ADF has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review Barronelle’s case, but it appears the Court is waiting to decide her case until after it decides Jack’s. 11:40 a.m. — Jack Phillips and his family, Kristen Waggoner, ADF President, CEO, and General Counsel Michael P. Farris, and members of the media team descend the steps and make their way to the press conference as the rally crowd cheers and chants: “We got your back, Jack!” 11:50 a.m. — “In this country,” Michael Farris says, “the essence of being American for a very long time has been this: ‘I disagree with everything you say, but I’ll defend to the death your right to say it.’” Jack Phillips says about his experience sitting through the oral arguments: “I’m not a lawyer and I’m not sure of all the intricacies, but just listening to it, it was, I thought, fairly positive and balanced. I was confident, especially with Kristen, she was dynamite up there. It was awesome to watch.” “I thought it went well, the court asked difficult questions of both sides,” Kristen Waggoner says. “I was pleased that the court seemed to be concerned about the bias and hostility that the state of Colorado showed toward Jack and his religious beliefs. The court seemed to acknowledge, again, that those who believe marriage is between a man and a woman do so for ‘decent and honorable’ reasons,

which was heartening to hear. Now we wait and we pray!” Before oral arguments, Kristen says, “I felt peaceful! Jim [Campbell], my co-counsel, did too — we just felt peaceful about it, and I’d just been praying that God would steady my heart, stand by my side, and quicken my mind, and I felt like … He was faithful.” And now that it was over? She laughs, “Relieved and grateful to be done!” 7:00 p.m. — Jack and his family, other ADF clients, attorneys, staff, and allies gather at a reception to celebrate the day, complete with cake. 7:30 p.m. — Nicolle Martin, the Allied Attorney who is cocounsel on Jack’s case, was honored with an award for her service. She thanked ADF for the “selfless support, and for helping me, and the other Allied Attorneys, believe that with your support and the full armor of God, we can stand against the forces of darkness.” And to Jack, she said, “Thank you for your living witness of God’s love, grace, and mercy.” 9:00 p.m. — Jack receives a surprise gift from “one fellow artist to another,” a book of George W. Bush’s paintings, signed by the former president.

Now we wait and pray. A decision from the U.S. Supreme Court is expected in June. Please continue to keep Jack Phillips, his family, and ADF in your prayers.

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Kristen Waggoner

Alliance Profile

10 Ways Women Answer “Is Pro-Life Pro-Woman?”

Early feminist leaders fought for the rights of all women, including the unborn. But today, women have been told that being for “women’s rights” includes supporting abortion. However, as we’ve seen the media and Hollywood (supposed bastions of women’s rights) implode under sexual harassment and abuse scandals, now is the time for us to champion the protection of all women, from conception to natural death.

If you’ve ever wondered how to respond to claims

Penny Nance is a recognized

that abortion is supposedly “pro-woman,” draw

national authority on cultural, children’s, and women’s issues. As the CEO and President of Concerned Women for America, the nation’s largest public policy women’s organization, Nance oversees more than 500,000 participating CWA members across the country. Twitter: @PYNance Website: www.CWA.org

inspiration from these powerful responses.

Lila Rose is the Founder and President of Live Action, a nonprofit that uses investigative reporting, educational media, and storytelling to defend the preborn and expose the abortion industry (read the Q&A with her on page 21). Twitter: @LilaGraceRose Website: www.LiveAction.org

think that it's not really about the label — feminism vs. not. We absolutely need to be explaining how being for the child in the womb is being for the mother, and how women have been sorely mistreated and lied to by abortion advocates, and why these two things are incompatible, abortion and women's rights. And how children's rights and women's rights are indivisible. You can't scratch out a group of rights for one group and then deny those rights to another. Rights are for all. And that starts at the right to life. “This idea that women being powerful because of killing their children is an absolute lie. It's insulting, it's abusive, and I think women deep down know that. We know that abortion is death and that it's a violent act against someone who's defenseless and innocent.” “

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omen are created by God to be strong, free, loving, and uniquely distinct “ human beings. We are blessed to be the givers of life through the distinct capability of growing and bearing children, as well as the God-size ability to love our children unconditionally. “To ignore and dishonor this particular aspect of our God-given femininity is to ignore and dishonor a vital part of our very essence. And history has shown that women and children suffer the most when ideology is divorced from an ethic of life. “Even today, societies that do not value life destroy ethnic groups they despise or strap bombs on children and send them into war. And in a pro-abortion culture, women are told that is it perfectly normal to walk into abortion clinics and destroy their own offspring. This is not just an impractical exercise in philosophical thought; a pro-life ideology is essential to the protection of women and their children.”

Abortion is profoundly anti-women. Three quarters of its victims are women: Half the babies and all the mothers.

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M o t h e r Te re s a

Jeanne Mancini is President of the March for Life Education and Defense Fund, the nonprofit organization committed to restoring a culture of life in the United States, most notably through the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., held on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade. Twitter: @JeanneMFL Website: www.MarchForLife.org

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t has been said — politically and culturally — that for one to be pro-woman, one must be pro-choice. Nothing could be further from the truth. Sadly, there are so many confusing messages regarding women and the issue of abortion. “The liberating truth is that being pro-life and prowoman go hand in hand. Science, research, and our own lived experience support this! The fact is, pro-life is pro-woman. Abortion is not empowering for women; choosing life is empowering for women.” As an infant, Gianna Jessen survived an abortion, and today is a pro-life advocate, inspirational speaker, writer, and singer. She has testified before the U.S. Congress four times, as well as the Australian Parliament, and speaks for pregnancy resource centers and various conferences around the world. Twitter: @giannajessen Website: giannajessen.com

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was born in an abortion clinic, and I wonder why today’s feminists didn’t consider what my rights were. What about the effects on my own body, like Cerebral Palsy? Why do only adult women’s rights seem to matter? Abortion is a violation of a woman, not empowerment. It is inviting the exploitation of a woman, not freedom.”

Dr. Alveda King is the niece of civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr. and daughter of civil rights leader Rev. A.D. King. She founded Alveda King Ministries and directs Priests for Life's African-American outreach, Civil Rights for the Unborn.

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t Civil Rights for the Unborn, we stress that a child in the womb is a separate and unique individual who has the same inalienable right to life as all of us. But we also care about the mothers who feel driven to abortion by personal circumstances. “We hope to reach moms before they make the irrevocable choice to abort their children, and we also want to contact mothers who have already bought the abortion lie and are suffering as a result, as I did for many years.”

Abby Johnson left the abortion industry in 2009 and became an outspoken pro-life advocate. She founded and is the CEO of And Then There Were None, a nonprofit organization that exists to help abortion clinic workers leave the abortion industry. Twitter: @AbbyJohnson Website: AbortionWorker.com

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ociety can no longer sit by and pretend that abortion is good for women. There are tens of thousands of voices from women who say that abortion physically hurt them, that it wounded their spirit and left them feeling helpless. “We must demand that pregnant women are given better options than to take innocent life. Our goal in a crisis pregnancy should always be to eliminate the crisis, not the pregnancy.”

Marjorie Dannenfelser

Sandra Merritt is known for

is the President of Susan B. Anthony List, a grassroots lobbying organization that has grown to over 600,000 members nationwide. Twitter: @marjoriesba Website: www.sba-list.org

her investigative journalism with the Center for Medical Progress, a group of citizen journalists dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances, exposing abuses by Planned Parenthood in a series of viral videos in 2015.

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ur namesake Susan B. Anthony and her compatriots felt sharply the connection between treating unborn children as disposable property and the degradation of women. They understood, as today’s pro-life, pro-women advocates do, that we cannot build up the rights of one person or group by breaking the rights of others. “Mother Teresa—that champion of the poor and neglected—understood this well when she said, ‘Abortion is profoundly anti-women. Three-quarters of its victims are women: Half the babies and all the mothers.’ If we love women, we must stand up for their life and the life of the vulnerable child who relies on her.”

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ro-human includes both women and men. Pro-human is pro-life. You cannot have it both ways. Using ‘choice’ to murder your own child disqualifies you as pro-woman. After decades of propaganda and lies, this generation of women has access to the truth. They no longer need to remain the victims of lies. “Truth is empowering. Truth provides real and compassionate choices. Young women need to be intellectually honest and possess the courage to seek truth and follow it to its natural end. That end will not require them to murder their young. Pro-lifers innately recognize the exalted position of womanhood.”

Kristan Hawkins is the

Catherine Glenn Foster is

President of Students for Life of America, a national organization transforming culture by recruiting, training, and mobilizing pro-life student groups in colleges, high schools, and middle schools to educate their peers. Twitter: @KristanHawkins Website: StudentsForLife.org

President and CEO of Americans United for Life, America’s first national pro-life organization. AUL pursues and refines a mother-child strategy that looks at the interests and vulnerabilities of both, protecting them from abortion industry abuses. Twitter: @cateici Website: www.AUL.org

lanned Parenthood and their allies in the abortion industry tell women that they can’t handle being a mother and having a career. But it’s the pro-life movement that affirms women and protects them from Planned Parenthood's predatory business cycle that sells women short and then tries to sell them the death of their family. “Our movement works every day to assure that women can achieve ALL their goals, both in their career and in their personal lives. Being pro-life is about believing in the value of every human being—child, woman, and man—so it would only follow that being pro-life means pro-woman as we seek to protect and empower women as they set out to achieve all of their goals, whether at work or at home, because we believe in their inherent value.”

bortion hurts not only the hundreds of thousands of unborn children who are victimized each year by an industry that views them as raw materials instead of as people, but also their mothers. “We're talking about women who, like me, have been harmed and even killed because we walked through the doors of an abortion facility, because we didn't know there was a better choice. So many people in the pro-life movement are post-abortive; we know what abortion has cost us, our families, and our nation, and we work so that the next generation of women will be safeguarded from harm and empowered to choose life.”

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Cover Story

Waiting For A Sign ADF asks the Supreme Court to strike down laws forcing pro-life clinics to promote abortion By Chris Potts

t was what passed for a bleak, mid-winter day in El Cajon, California, even if the cold and hopelessness were mostly in Maggie’s heart. El Cajon is Spanish for “the box,” and Maggie felt thoroughly crated on all sides by hard, cruel choices, closing in, with no room for forgiveness. Some friends had convinced her to take the pregnancy test, and offered her their small comfort when the results came back positive. It just couldn’t be. Maggie’s parents were committed Christians who’d always looked on her as their “good” child, their princess. A child out of wedlock would break their hearts and sever her ties to them forever. The young man whose child she was carrying would never consent to marry her. The people of her church, her Christian boss and co-workers … all Maggie could see in any direction was humiliation, judgment, rejection.

We don't want to be a part of that decision, to take a life. If that's what a client wants to do, that's her business, but that's not what we're about.

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J o s h M c C l u r e , D i r e c t o r, Pregnancy Care Center

So, she made the appointment with Planned Parenthood, and now sat in the passenger seat, trembling, as a friend drove her and the child inside her toward the unthinkable. She sat in a daze, staring out at the passing streets — and suddenly focused on a familiar sight: the Pregnancy Care Clinic, there on the corner, with the “Free Pregnancy Test” sign out front. A sudden instinct seized her heart. “I didn’t want to go to Planned Parenthood,” she remembers. “I wanted to go somewhere where — I don’t know — I didn’t want it to feel all surgical and sterile and cold.” She asked her friend to turn the car around, and reached for her cell phone to cancel her appointment. She walked through the door of the clinic in a blur of confused, colliding emotions. “I was terrified,” she says. “Just really clinging to the thought that maybe I was wrong, maybe the test was wrong,” or, “if I was pregnant, that someone would help me figure out what I would do next. “My heart was pounding through my chest, and I was so ashamed to have to look anybody in the eyes, even a stranger. But the receptionist was just so sweet and cheerful and full of smiles. I probably was starting to cry. But she was really, really calm and comforting.” A counselor asked Maggie gently about her situation, and whether her parents knew what she was going through. The free pregnancy test confirmed her fears; a nurse suggested an ultrasound. “I was just washed over with love for that baby,” she says. “I thought, That's my baby … even though he was so, so tiny then, there was barely anything to see.”

I was so scared, and didn't know what I was going to do ... as soon as I saw the baby ... I suddenly wanted that baby so bad.

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Maggie, Pregnancy Care Center Client

There was a concern—something seemed off, and the nurse warned Maggie that she might have miscarried already. And — in that moment — something changed. “I was so scared, and didn't know what I was going to do. I so badly didn't want to be having a baby when I came in. But then as soon as I saw the baby, and then she told me that I probably miscarried it … I suddenly wanted that baby so bad.” Now, Maggie says, she knows “one of the reasons I didn't go to Planned Parenthood was because I was so afraid and so ashamed that if somebody tried to talk me into [an abortion], I was in a place where I didn't really know what I would do if someone tried to show me all the ‘good things’ that could come out of that.” But somehow, after the worrisome ultrasound, “I wanted to keep the baby. I was confident that, if the baby was still alive, I was going to keep it.”

or Maggie, the ultrasound was the sign she was looking for, in deciding whether or not to carry her baby to term. But if California legislators had their way, she would have seen a different one. In 2015, state lawmakers passed AB 775, requiring pro-life pregnancy centers to post prominent referrals for the abortion industry. Every licensed pro-life clinic waiting area was supposed to put up a large-lettered sign telling women about state-sponsored programs that provide “immediate, free, or low-cost access” to abortions, along with a phone number for the county social services office. On the other hand, pregnancy centers not licensed for medical practice or ultrasounds were to post information emphasizing that fact — in sizable print and in up to 13 different languages that obscured any other, pro-life message they were communicating. The fine for not posting? Five hundred dollars for a first offense; $1,000 for each one after that. Anne O'Connor of the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA) says these state-ordered signs “push out the message that the pregnancy center wants to get out there, and instead replaces it with the language the pro-abortion industry wants us to put in there. The government should be protecting the speech of pregnancy centers, not compelling us to say a message that totally contradicts our whole reason for being.” Josh McClure, who manages the clinic Maggie visited, says the new law was enacted in the wake of some intensive lobbying by Planned Parenthood and other organizations. “They’re trying to effectively stomp out their competition,” he says.

The government should be protecting the speech of pregnancy centers, not compelling us to say a message that totally contradicts our whole reason for being.

‘‘

A n n e O ' C o n n o r, N a t i o n a l I n s t i t u t e o f F a m i l y a n d L i f e A d v o c a t e s ( N I F L A )

That competition is growing. Today, there are 174 prolife centers across California, and 95 of them are full-fledged medical clinics offering varying degrees of care: pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, tests for sexually transmitted diseases, and extensive pre-natal care. Some even provide pap smears and mammograms. Planned Parenthood, by contrast, has only 107 offices in California, many of which offer considerably fewer services. Yet O'Connor says the new law is patently biased in favor of Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers. “This is a one-sided law,” she says, “supported and sponsored by the pro-abortion industry to silence and punish pregnancy centers.” More than that, McClure says, it poses a profound crisis for those who work in the pregnancy care centers.

Director Josh McClure says that being forced to promote abortion goes against why the clinic exists.

“We don't want to give referral for abortion, because it goes against what we're here for,” he says. “It goes against the conscience — we don't want to be a part of that decision, to take a life. If that's what a client wants to do, that's her business, but that's not what we're about. “To be forced to do that would be a searing of our conscience.”

aggie sweated out those first few weeks, waiting to learn if the baby in her womb was still alive. The Pregnancy Care Center staff tried to help her keep up hope, giving her some books and brochures to read on her situation, as well as a few baby supplies and a blanket. “Everybody was so kind and comforting,” she remembers. When a second ultrasound showed that her little boy was in fact alive and growing, Maggie’s relief brought some of her other challenges into perspective. She felt “more ready to face those different decisions that had been terrifying me before I came in,” she says. “Once I found out he was okay, I felt like I could take on anything.” Maggie’s is not an unusual reaction, says Christine Butcher, the nurse who worked with her at the Care Center. Women who come in considering abortion or overwhelmed by an unexpected pregnancy are often tense and teary, and consumed with the question: Now, what do I do? Christine tries to talk through their options with them, “but the real magic happens in the ultrasound room,” she says. “You can just see tears welling up in their eyes. I show them a picture in a book, and it maybe looks like an alien or something not quite real. But when you get that picture in the ultrasound and we can see body parts — fingers, toes — they're just completely changed. Their countenance goes from hard, scared, distressed, to, I can do this. I can do this! The Care Center crew helped Maggie connect with a doctor and sort through insurance options. They set her up with childbirth and parenting and “Moms Helping Moms” classes. A counselor talked with her about how she could broach the baby topic with her parents, the father, and others. “They just encouraged me not to be ashamed, not to be scared,” Maggie says. “To know that I would have support and people helping me through it, no matter how my family responded. And that was really key — knowing that even if my worst fears came true and my parents kicked me out and my grandparents and brothers and cousins all hated me, that I would still have people to turn to that would love me and love my baby and help me.”

Nurse Christine Butcher provides ultrasounds to the clients at the pregnancy care center.

ccording to a brief filed at the U.S. Supreme Court in January by Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) attorneys, California legislative records make it clear that AB 775 was specifically created to undermine the pregnancy centers’ pro-life message. According to one legislative committee report, the bill’s author actually described the centers’ message as “unfortunate,” since they “aim to discourage and prevent women from seeking abortions.” What’s more, the ADF brief says, lawmakers created exceptions within the law to ensure it applies only to centers that express the pro-life view — a clear violation of the Constitution. “Any time that you allow the government to compel speech, it affects the very heart of our system of government, and that is the ability to express your convictions,” says Kevin Theriot, ADF Senior Counsel and Vice President of the ministry’s Center for Life. “If you are forced to speak someone else’s message, that necessarily infringes upon your ability to say your own message. And that undermines democracy.” Hawaii and Illinois legislators have passed similar laws in their states; in fact, Theriot says, Illinois is attempting to require pro-life OB-GYNs to present their patients with abortion options and contact information to facilitate those abortions. While these kinds of laws have been struck down in Texas, New York, and Maryland, federal courts — including the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit — are so far allowing the California law to stand. Those rulings led NIFLA, the Pregnancy Care Clinic in El Cajon, and another care center in Fallbrook, California to enlist ADF to appeal their case to the U.S. Supreme Court. ADF is asking the Court to reverse the lower courts, halt the law, and exempt the centers from promoting a message that threatens both their core mission and their constitutionally protected freedoms. The legal threat, though, extends far beyond the California pregnancy care centers.

Left: A California law would force pro-life pregnancy centers like this one in San Diego to promote abortion. Right: Maggie holds ten-month-old Ronan during a visit to the pregnancy center.

“If the government can coerce pregnancy centers to give a pro-abortion message for the pro-abortion industry,” O’Connor says, “what's going to stop it from attacking other industries — churches — telling us how to think, how to say things?” “Compelled speech strikes at the very heart of constitutionally protected liberties,” says Michael Farris, ADF President, CEO, and General Counsel, who will be arguing the case at the high court this spring. [See story, p. 2.] Those liberties, Farris says, “are most at risk when speakers are targeted by government officials who disagree with their thoughts and ideas. Targeting people who disagree with the government is exactly what the California law does.”

side from the pregnancy centers themselves, the implications of what California legislators are doing may be most far-reaching for churches. “The churches, I believe, are beginning to understand what it means for government to come in and force an organization to say something against what they would normally say,” McClure says. His work brings him into regular contact with church groups and congregations, and many “are very much in support of what we're doing in opposing the law.” Many, but by no means all. “It is breathtaking to see churches that do not support us,” McClure says. “One pastor told me, ‘We don't tell our people what is right and wrong – we let them read the Bible and determine that for themselves.’” McClure sighs. “I don't think that they're even paying attention.” “I understand that many churches want to focus on bringing souls into the kingdom and making disciples,”

Theriot says, “and that should be their focus. But at the same time, we’re meant to be ‘salt and light.’ When the church doesn’t take a stand, there’s a huge vacuum that’s left. “This isn’t a political issue – this is a moral issue. And if the church retreats every time the government takes a position on a moral issue because they don’t want to get involved in politics, then pretty soon the church is not going to have a say – and that would be a tragedy.”

or the staff at Pregnancy Care Clinic in El Cajon, the potential for not having a say looms large every day – and the prospect of advertising abortions only heightens the sense of tragedy. “I'm in this work because I want to give women information,” Christine says. “My heart is to save that little baby, but as a nurse, I want [the mom] to make an informed decision. I want to give her that information. And I want to work in an organization where we have the freedom to do that. “We see a lot of women who very much want an abortion,” Christine says, “but they don't walk out of here feeling we tried to twist them around an idea, or tried to make them choose one way over the other. We want them to leave knowing that whatever they choose, we're not going to turn our back on them. They can always come back to us. They can come back with the next pregnancy. And the next pregnancy. And we're not going to judge them, we're just here to help.

Karen Thomann, Client Services Director, prepares a diaper bag of baby supplies for a client.

If the church retreats every time the government takes a position on a moral issue … then pretty soon the church is not going to have a say.

‘‘

Kevin Theriot, ADF Senior Counsel

“We will offer them whatever they need to heal from having made that choice, but that's not a deal-breaker for us. We care about them as a person – and I don't think that happens [at Planned Parenthood].” “[These women] are hurting and afraid,” says Karen Thomann, Client Services Director for the clinic, “and if the sign [advertising abortion] were up, it would say, ‘Hey, here's an easy way out.’ A lot of times, they might just turn and walk out, instead of being loved on and shared the truth with. If you just tell a partial truth, that's not honest. You’ve got to tell the whole truth. “That's what we're here for. We tell the whole truth.”

oday, Maggie gazes on the face of her healthy baby boy, marveling at the difference a year makes. The father of her child married her soon after the pregnancy was discovered, and they’re launching a new life together. The family whose rejection she feared so much has embraced her, forgiven her, enveloped her with love. And more than even that, she found her faith again. “It took a long time,” she says. “For most of the pregnancy, I was really struggling, going back and forth with what I believed. But ultimately, with the uncertainty of being pregnant, and then having a little baby … you

have to fall on something, because it's terrifying and an incredible responsibility. “I realized that I needed a rock to fall back on, and that my parents had taught me my whole life what that rock was. So, then I prayed, for the first time in a long time. I just asked for forgiveness for the mistakes, the sins that I’d made, and guidance and strength for the journey ahead. “It feels like you're the only person who's ever gone through this,” she says, “and you've got this terrifying road ahead of you … but you're not alone. There are people who want to love on you, to care for you and support you, even if your own family or friends don't.” The staff at Pregnancy Care Clinic, she says, showed her that. “You're not alone. If you want to have that baby, then you totally can, and you can have all the resources you need to have that baby successfully.” Thanks to that “Free Pregnancy Test” sign out front — and the sign that wasn’t posted in the lobby — Maggie shook off “all the fear and shame and pain of disappointing people” that was crushing her a year ago, “and the stresses of pregnancy and having a baby.” And now, she says, looking down on a small, sleeping face, “it’s so, so worth it to have this little, perfect angel to love and change my life.”

Opinion

Design and Disorder By Ryan Bomberger

love design. As a creative professional, I depend on it to inform and inspire. I am typing on a device ingeniously built to complete specific tasks. You’re reading this as the result of an alphabet and language constructed to enable ideas to be communicated and understood. Design is all around us. Nothing we do is possible without it. What happens when design breaks down? In one simple word—disorder. I was conceived in violent disorder. Instead of being the intended (or even unintended) result of the love between a wife and husband, my life began as the result of the horrific violence forced upon my birthmom by a broken man. Still, she chose to be stronger than rape and abortion, giving me life and the incredible gift of adoption. Adoption happens out of disorder but serves as a means to bring restoration and healing. I was adopted into a multiracial family of fifteen. I grew up seeing the beautiful design of an intact marriage, a husband who deeply loved his wife, a wife who deeply loved her husband, and two parents who loved the broken and enabled us to flourish. Today, I’m a happily married father of four (two of whom were adopted). My parents’ faith is my faith. When you love the Lord God with all your heart, soul and mind, you’re operating from a solid foundation designed to keep things in order spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, and physically. Biblical principles operate whether the world wants to acknowledge them or not. We live in a society that denies our Divine design, making it hard to “hold these

truths to be self-evident.” So many want the benefit of being “created equal” without accepting the Who and the “what” that makes us equal. People want to invoke the gift while rejecting the Giver. Therein lies the disorder of many of today’s movements of “equality.” Recently, I helped to lead a Supreme Court rally for Jack Phillips—a cake artist from Colorado threatened with losing his business because the state allowed a misguided sense of “equality” to trump the Constitution. The Supreme Law of the Land was designed to “secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity,” to protect our freedom to live out our faith in the public square. “We want equality! It’s our birthright!” an LGBT activist shouted to the gathering of ACLU advocates at the #JusticeForJack rally. Those words resounded with irony considering that the LGBT activist community think so little of equality that they believe another group of human beings—the unborn—do not have the right to be birthed. Every major LGBTQ organization supports the most violent form of discrimination—abortion. And in Jack’s case, they are demanding disorder—a pseudo-equality: that wants to abort the birthright of every American—the First Amendment rights of religious freedom and free speech. We often hear conversations about entropy as it applies scientifically to the natural world. I believe the same happens with human thought. Liberalism is that eventual devolution from order to disorder. No matter the social issue, liberals seem to overwhelmingly reject design for irrationality and contradiction. This is why

We were designed to love one another, but too many Christians confuse loving every human being with loving every human doing.

‘‘

Ryan Bomberger 17

Left: Ryan and Bethany Bomberger at the rally for Jack Phillips.

I’m compelled to fight for truth and justice with organizations like Alliance Defending Freedom. God is constant. Human beings? Not so much. It’s why I’ll defend the defenseless in the womb and reach out compassionately to mothers and fathers lured by the lies of a billion-dollar abortion business. I’ll passionately promote adoption. I’ll reject gender confusion politics and the made-up vernacular that supports it. I’ll denounce racial animus and division because we’re one human race. We were designed to love one another, but too many Christians confuse loving every human being with loving every human doing. Humanity, daily, deviates from Divine Purpose. And there is no shortage of religious leaders who justify and celebrate human frailty as a fixed identity. There’s so much clamoring about sexual, gender, racial, and political orientation that it drowns out the one position that matters the most—our soul orientation toward Christ. The work my wife and I are committed to, through the Radiance Foundation, is to illuminate Truth, no matter the personal cost. That Truth lovingly yet uncompromisingly helps to redirect destructive detours to the life-affirming destiny of design.

LEARN MORE about the

Radiance Foundation:

TheRadianceFoundation.org

Ryan Bomberger, an adoptee and adoptive father, is the co-founder of The Radiance Foundation. He is an international public speaker, factivist, journalist, creative director and author of Not Equal: Civil Rights Gone Wrong. He’s daily inspired by his amazing wife, Bethany (Radiance Executive Director), and their four homeschooled children.

My View

Free-Speech Disorder:

When a Professor Tried to Erase My Rights, ADF Gave Me a Voice By Bernadette Tasy

rowing up in a Catholic family, surrounded by a small-town Catholic church community, I have always been pro-life. From giving speeches at school to attending the annual Walk for Life West Coast, I played a small, comfortable role in the pro-life movement. But my junior year in college, that changed when I learned about Students for Life of America (SFLA) and met a student who wanted to start a Fresno State chapter. We started Fresno State Students for Life in the spring of 2016 to challenge our peers to think about one of our nation’s most controversial issues. This was certainly not comfortable. We faced recruitment challenges, students and staff disrespected us at our outdoor displays, and others defaced and tore down our flyers. Although it was hard, I was learning and growing so much while advocating for this lifesaving cause. For an end-of-the-school-year activity, we decided to chalk messages on campus to support pregnant and parenting students and to educate the campus about

human development in the womb. These “chalking” events are common at Fresno State; many groups chalk messages for recruitment, advertising, and education. We received permission from the university to chalk our messages on the sidewalks near and leading up to the library. Starting at 6:30 a.m., we chalked hopeful messages, including, “Pregnant? Need Help? Call 800–712–HELP,” “Love them both. Choose life,” and more. As we were finishing, a professor approached me. “The free speech area is over there,” he said tersely, pointing to a different area. I explained that we had permission to chalk where we were, but he refused to listen, stating that he would return to erase our messages. After putting the materials away, I walked back through the campus and was shocked to see students erasing our messages. I pulled out my cellphone and began recording video. When I asked the students why they were erasing our messages, they confirmed that Dr. Thatcher, a public health professor, had instructed them to do this. I found Dr. Thatcher, reminded him that we had permission for our event, explained where I received the permission, and offered to show him the email to prove it. He insisted that my free speech was not allowed outside of the “free speech area,” even though the university had rescinded this policy two years earlier. And he refused to stop his students from erasing the messages.

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as they work to establish a marketplace of ideas on college campuses for students and faculty: ADFlegal.org/fj-campus

College student Bernadette Tasy stood up to a harassing professor to defend the free speech of all students at Fresno State University.

I decided to take legal action because I knew the professor’s actions were wrong, and I wanted to be sure that this censorship would never occur again.

‘‘

Bernadette Tasy Instead, he asked, “What are they doing that’s not part of free speech?” Then he began erasing our messages himself, saying, “This is my free speech!” claiming that censorship was part of his “free speech.” Dr. Thatcher then boldly stated, “College campuses are not free speech areas. Do you understand? Obviously, you don’t understand.” As a speech-language pathology graduate student, I’d say he has a free-speech disorder. I left the professor and his students and immediately contacted my SFLA Regional Coordinator, who connected me with Travis Barham of Alliance Defending Freedom’s Center for Academic Freedom. I decided to take legal action because I knew the professor’s actions were wrong, and I wanted to be sure that this censorship would never occur again.

ADF represented us in our federal lawsuit against Dr. Thatcher for infringing on our First Amendment rights. In November 2017, the court ordered Dr. Thatcher not to intervene in any of Fresno State Students for Life’s on-campus activities again. As part of a settlement, he will also pay damages, attorneys’ fees, and costs, and then attend First Amendment training—given by ADF attorneys. University professors should be encouraging free speech on campus, not erasing it from existence. ADF has not only helped us fight for our rights, they have given us the opportunity to share our story, in the hopes of putting an end to this anti-free speech epidemic. Because of ADF’s help and this clear victory for free speech, more students will hear our message, and lives will be saved on our campus.

Q&A

Lila Rose

What’s Next for the Pro-Life Movement By Emily Conley

Lila Rose is the founder and CEO of Live Action, a media and news nonprofit dedicated to ending abortion and inspiring a culture that respects all human life. Lila first found out about abortion at the age of nine, and she felt compelled to do something about it. When she couldn’t find a pro-life group to join, she started her own organization, at the age of fifteen. Today, Live Action’s groundbreaking news coverage and compelling videos reach several million people weekly across social media. Lila’s investigative reporting on the abortion industry has been featured in most major news outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post, CBS and ABC Nightline.

F&J: When you started Live Action in your parent’s living room, did you ever have doubts that you could really make a difference as a teenager? LR: There were certainly many moments feeling a sense of helplessness, that the problem was so great and our little group was so small. And knowing that there are so many lies being told at campuses across the country and in the media by politicians, and the laws were stacked against children in the womb and were not protecting them. But I knew that truth is always more powerful than lies, and I knew that God is all-powerful, and He loves children in the womb, He loves the human person, born and pre-born, far more than I do. So that gave me confidence to just do my small part each day and to trust that if I was faithful in the little things, God ultimately would be the one to win the battle. F&J: As a college freshman, what inspired you to go undercover to investigate the cover-up of sexual abuse of minors at Planned Parenthood? LR: One of the things that led me to do the first investigative reports was becoming a student and realizing how remarkably uneducated or unaware most students were of the facts about both abortion and the abortion industry. And how groups like Planned Parenthood were doing a very good job of trying to make abortion look positive, or hide what they do, and win over support in very high places in media and politics. And then I did research: I learned about other investigative reporting that had been done, and that was very inspirational.

F&J: Do you remember what you were thinking and feeling that first time you were undercover? LR: Sure. The first time undercover in an abortion facility was for me, very nerve-wracking. I tried to really experience what a young girl feels like when she is pregnant, when she doesn't know what to do, when maybe the man who impregnated her is an abuser. What is she really feeling? What is she really thinking? She's feeling a sense of desperation, and she's feeling fear, she's feeling alone. So I tried to really channel those feelings, and really try to be as authentic as I could. And so any nerves of actually being undercover in the first place helped to contribute to presenting that character and really being in touch with what a girl in that position would be experiencing and feeling like. F&J: Where did you find the courage to do undercover investigations? Especially once there was public outcry and Planned Parenthood facilities faced consequences, they started posting your photo like a wanted poster around the country—it had to get scary at times. LR: I can't say that it took a special courage. I think it was more something I felt I had to do. I felt it would have been wrong not to take a risk. Because I'm not in danger. My rights are protected in this country, largely speaking. I'm very privileged. I grew up with the freedom to advocate for the pre-born and in a loving family. And so to do this small thing to try to expose the evil, to advocate for those that were in danger of being actually killed, was not some courageous feat.

Find Lila at www.LiveAction.org Twitter: @LilaGraceRose

year. There is no greater injustice in the world today than the killing of those who are not born. There is no greater abuse. And all of the other injustices — they matter, and we need to fight them. But if we cannot protect those that are the most vulnerable from the violent attacks of those who are born that are stronger than they are, if we're not protecting the first human right, which is life, then we are allowing the greatest injustice to continue. F&J: Live Action has been an innovative organization from the start. What is the next area in which the prolife movement needs innovation?

And when you consider that the pre-born are in danger each day of death—a really brutal, violent death—and by the people that have been entrusted to love them, by their parents, by doctors in this country who are supposed to be healing, not harming, it puts into perspective whatever sacrifices might be made. I'm not the one who's in danger. I'm not the victim. I'm merely making my best effort to serve those that are. F&J: Did you ever consider taking up a different issue? LR: I absolutely did. There's a lot of injustice in the world, both in our country and abroad. And you look at the injustices, and you think, "What can I do, how can I serve, how can I make it better?" But I kept coming back to the issue of abortion, and today, I see it even more clearly than I did before, and it just is reaffirmed with every passing

LR: I think one of the potential pitfalls for the pro-life movement is the partisanship that accompanies our political objective. And absolutely, we need to have political objectives, and Live Action has been helping lead the fight to stop the forced taxpayer funding of Planned Parenthood, and we continue to do that. But we cannot make the war to win hearts and minds a political battle. It's not. It's a battle where we have to reach the audiences with the very videos and stories and the testimonies that are going to move people. And Live Action is doing that already, but we plan to do that in even greater numbers. F&J: What challenge would you give to our readers who are pro-life, but don't know where to begin with getting involved in the pro-life movement and taking action? LR: I would say, start with what's in front of you. Just start. Make a small start. God will bless that. And persevere. Keep this mission in your prayers, continue to take steps to contribute, whether it's through resources you can contribute, or time, or the talents that God's given you. Take a step towards contributing whatever it is that you have. Get involved with your parish or church, donate to a pro-life group, get involved with a "40 Days for Life” campaign. Just start somewhere. F&J: What gives you hope for the future?

There is no greater injustice in the world today than the killing of those who are not born. There is no greater abuse.

‘‘

Lila Rose

LR: Well, I think every life that's saved is an incredible witness to hope. And every heart or mind that's changed, people that reject the abortion, or heal from past abortions, is a witness to hope. And I also hope that by the way that I live my life, by living in God's grace and by trying to do His will to the best that I can and let Him work through me, I hope that I can also let other people know that their lives, too, were made for beautiful works of love. If we say “yes” to God and we try to follow Him, we can make a difference in the world.

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Pass on a legacy of freedom. Please contact Lisa Reschetnikow at 844-233-6692 or LegacyGiving@ADFlegal.org to discuss your legacy giving.