Today marks the 53rd anniversary of Roe v Wade, the court case that made abortion legal in all fifty states and began a decades-long battle to restore protections for children in the womb. As abortion clinics began to murder preborn babies in every state, devoted Christians began to heed the call of Proverbs 24:11, “Rescue those being led away to death.”
Out of those seven holy words came the largest movement of peaceful civil disobedience in American history: Rescue. During those early years, thousands of men and women willingly sat in front of abortion clinic doors – sacrificially placing their own bodies between preborn children and a brutal death, and then willingly paying the penalty whether it be arrest, incarceration, fines, or physical assaults. It was a movement born from love, compassion, courage, and self-sacrifice.
That seed of dedication to peaceful protest and to the marginalized preborn blossomed into thousands of pro-life ministries – crisis pregnancy centers, training in apologetics, student-led activism on college campuses, legal groups and legislative organizations, sidewalk advocates, and even adaptive rescue movements like Red Rose Rescue.
Then, in 2022, the longed for moment that so many had spent so much of their lives working towards finally came – Roe defeated, overturned, vanquished. And in its place, 13 states that remain abortion-free, four more states maintaining 6-week bans. Thirty-four percent of our nation offering strong protections that are restoring personhood to the preborn. There is much, much more work to do, but we’ve made an incredible beginning.
And how was it done? Through peaceful protest. Through dedicated legislative work. Through the legal shut down of bad abortion businesses. Through honoring and preserving free speech. Through showing love and compassion to mothers and developing resources those mothers can access – and at no cost to them. Through speaking truth and sacrificing our time, money, and sometimes our freedom, so that those with no voice might be heard.
There is an element of “social justice” in our world today that seems to believe violence and intimidation will bring about change. That burning down cities and screaming at their neighbor will somehow evolve into societal good. That free speech is only for some, and the right to life only for those they deem worthy. That any citizen can be judge, jury, and executioner, and still be righteous.
Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said, “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
The pro-life movement has not been perfect. We have experienced divisions, disagreements, and downright bad choices – but the large majority of us have always held that peaceful, prayerful, pro-life activism is how we win. Has this way of peace taken time? Yes. Has this way of peace cost us? Dearly. But we do not count the cost when we consider what brutal violence awaits the child in the womb sentenced to die by abortion. And we decided, from those far off days of Rescue to the times we live in now, that using our own violence to fight this violence would never give us the results we wanted.
Darkness cannot drive out darkness. Hate cannot drive out hate. On this anniversary of Roe v Wade, let us recommit ourselves to peaceful, prayerful, pro-life activism in hopes that our example might touch the hearts of others who seek to establish some hollow idea of justice through hatred, anger, or intimidating their neighbor.
Jesus not only said to love your neighbor, but to love your enemy. Why? Because love is truth, and He knew truth — not brute force — would always, always win.
Sarah Neely
Chief Operating Officer
This report may be republished with inclusion of the following acknowledgement: “This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Sarah Neely, is Chief Operating Officer for Operation Rescue.”
