With just a couple days left of 2024, I have been struck by the breadth of what we have faced, overcome, and celebrated these past twelve months.
Moving Mountains …
It was a momentous year for Sidewalk Advocates for Life — our tenth anniversary offering real help and hope on the sidewalk, marking the incredible milestone of 23,000 moms served and babies saved! With 282 locations coast to coast, this mission has grown beyond my wildest hopes. But of course, we know that the Lord can move mountains. And mountains He has moved — including moving abortion out of 58 locations where Sidewalk Advocates have been present!
But what has struck me the most powerfully this year has been the moments of mercy. We celebrated 13 abortion workers leaving the industry in one year! Knowing that our Advocates have played some part in guiding a soul from the despair of abortion to abundant life is a humbling gift.
If not you, then who?
As I reflect on Christ’s mercy, I can’t help but remember the humble, pro-life servant Monsignor Philip Reilly who went home to the Lord during Advent. I met this wonderful friend when I was in law school. For years, he served on the sidewalk outside NYC abortion facilities, exuding Christ’s love with offers of help to pregnant women in crisis. His witness ignited a massive sidewalk counseling movement based on prayer and loving dialogue and inspired my founding of Sidewalk Advocates for Life.
One of his repeated refrains stays with me to this day: “If not you, then who? If not now, then when?”
Will you stand with us?
As we look forward to starting a new year, we face daunting challenges — abortion deaths rising to over a million per year, the skyrocketing market for dangerous, DIY-abortion drugs, massive misinformation campaigns about women’s reproductive care, and political leaders who have lost the courage to stand for life. It would be easy to give up and give in to despair. But if not us, then who? And if not now, then when?
Our 282 sidewalk teams answer this question — day in and day out — with a resounding “Here I am, Lord!” Will you stand with them?
Will you help us bring more of our trained and committed teams to the 482 abortion-facility sidewalks that remain empty? We urgently need your continued partnership to make critical advances in 2025 a reality.
Thank you for sharing this life-saving mission with us. Along with everyone at Sidewalk Advocates, I wish you a blessed new year!