This Lent, you are once again invited to participate in the Spring 40 Days for Life campaign, which begins Ash Wednesday, Feb. 22, and runs through Palm Sunday, April 2.
The campaign will return to Planned Parenthood’s East Columbus Surgical Center abortion clinic, 3255 E. Main St.
In central Ohio, 40 Days for Life Columbus is in its 17th year, and this will be the second 40 Days for Life since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. In Ohio, abortion is currently legal until approximately 22 weeks because of an injunction blocking enforcement of the state’s Heartbeat Law. The Ohio Supreme Court is expected to weigh in on that injunction this spring.
Internationally, 40 Days for Life has been instrumental in saving thousands of lives and closing numerous abortion clinics, and that success has been echoed here in Columbus. Three abortion facilities that were sites of 40 Days vigils have closed, and dozens of women reported leaving their appointments before going through with an abortion.
While this is impressive and important, what makes 40 Days for Life, like all of Greater Columbus Right to Life’s sidewalk prayer ministry, the most effective is in the less tangible results. When we pray and fast, we are using some of the most powerful spiritual tools that we have to defeat the evil of abortion.
When you pray and fast on the sidewalks in front of Planned Parenthood and other abortion centers, you take that one step further, because you are standing in the breach at the line between good and evil, between life and death.
This has a powerful effect. To the external world you are the last sign of hope and the first sign of mercy to those at the abortion clinic. It has an inward effect as well as you engage in this act of mercy and grow in faith.
This Lent, will you spend one hour of prayer with us in front of Columbus’ busiest abortion clinic? It is a year where so much is on the line: Ohio’s Heartbeat Law will be decided by the courts. Ohioans might be asked to vote on an amendment enshrining abortion into the state’s Constitution. Most important, the lives of Ohio’s youngest and most vulnerable are at stake. We need to be prayerful, peaceful and present.
To join the 40 Days for Life campaign, you can either participate with your church on its adopted day (or contact Greater Columbus Right to Life about organizing one) or pledge an hour (or more) over the course of the campaign.
The campaign will run from 7 a.m. until 7 p.m. Parking is available on South Hampton Street. Participants are reminded to stay on the public sidewalks, being mindful not to block passers-by or impede the sightline of anyone attempting to turn onto Main Street.
To learn more or sign up, visit the Greater Columbus Right to Life website, www.gcrtl.org/40-days-for-life, or call 614-445-8508.
Beth Vanderkooi is the executive director of Greater Columbus Right to Life.
