One of the hard things about political campaigns is that sometimes the good guys don’t win. It is a hard lesson that almost everyone engaged in politics has learned. You can have a great candidate or cause, you can work your heart out and have strong campaign infrastructure, and every pundit and pollster may be predicting a victory, and yet you might not win. It all comes down to two things none of us can control: who shows up and how they vote. 

For the pro-life movement, this past November’s loss was not merely another box to be checked off. It was a devastating loss at the polls that will beget a devastating loss of life. In the face of any political loss, it can be tempting to explode in anger or creep away to lick our wounds. But that is the very opposite of what we need to do, and it is the very opposite of what we are going to do. 

While political campaigns may win and lose and partisan power will wax and wane, we stand for something far more permanent -- a reality grounded in truth about the nature of the human person: that each person has been made in the image and likeness of God and therefore is possessed of the full measure of human dignity, which should be respected and protected from the moment of conception until natural death. Abortion is the very opposite of that truth.

We are not a political movement – we are the pro-life movement. We are the pro-life faithful.

Certainly, as people of faith, we are responsible for engaging in the political process and advocating for policies that advance human flourishing, but that is neither the beginning nor the end of our involvement. The pro-life movement is fundamentally a movement grounded in love. As Pope Benedict wrote in Deus Caritas Est, love of God and love of neighbor are fundamental biblical truths that are deeply connected to each other and to our union with God. We cannot love God and be closed off to or hate our neighbors – regardless of if our neighbor is the Issue 1 advocate or the child in the womb. So, as we look for the path forward after this political defeat, I think it is there that we must look.

As Catholics, we live the principle of “God is Love,” through forgiveness, reciprocity, and charity, expressed by care and compassion to those in the world. Love of God is one of the most powerful forces in the world. Without it, we will struggle and fall and fail, but with it, we can and will change the world. 

We will win and lose elections, but love always wins. 

That is our path forward, and it is why we are inviting you to join us in our Love Always Wins campaign.

One campaign element is replacement slips for your Issue 1 sign (or any 26-inch wire frame). The signs share the simple message “Love Always Wins” and invites individuals to a website with pregnancy help and post-abortion healing resources and opportunities to join our cultural resistance to Issue 1. Signs are available in the Greater Columbus Right to Life office, churches (upon request) and at events in the coming months. Visit lovealwayswins.life for more information or to get your sign today. 

We are also going to be expanding our efforts with churches and schools. We currently work with about 50 churches to engage or support their pro-life programs, but we will be growing that. We need volunteers to step up and be active today and every day.

Why? Because as I reflect more and more on the work that we’ve done and the work we have before us, the more I believe that it is not going to be by adopting the perfect program or posting the perfect content or building the perfect app that is going to reverse the cultural shift we have experienced. While we will continue to engage with policy and the laws and the culture, our hope does not lie there. 

We are broken people in a broken world, but we are neither helpless nor hopeless, because Love Always Wins. 

Beth Vanderkooi is the executive director of Greater Columbus Right to Life.