This is a clip from an episode of Life Report called “Shawn Carney on the State of the Pro-Life Movement.” In this episode I asked 40 Days for Life co-founder Shawn Carney about his ministry as well as the state of the pro-life movement.
In this clip, I asked Shawn Carney if people often go from participating in 40 Days for Life to doing other pro-life activities. I also asked him what he is doing to encourage that.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAIk-L9Bryg&start=377]
Click the embedded video and it will start at the right place in the interview. This particular topic ends at 9:31.
If you don’t want to watch the 3-minute video, you can read the full transcript below.
Transcript:
Josh Brahm: What have you seen as far as people going from doing 40 Days for Life into doing other types of pro-life activities? Have you seen that happen often? And what is it that you and the leadership have been doing to encourage that kind of thing?
Shawn Carney: Absolutely. We’re big cheerleaders for that because the grassroots movement right now is so powerful in the pro-life movement. There are a lot of fronts in Washington, D.C. — this isn’t news to anyone — that we are losing on the life issue. And there is a lot of disappointment and frustration. And that part of the movement has to be done. We have the joy of working so closely with the Susan B. Anthony List and so many wonderful D.C. based groups.
Over half of all of the abortion facilities over the last 20 years have closed in America. And on the grassroots front, we’ve seen the number of crisis pregnancy centers triple in the last 15 years. They now outnumber abortion providers 3 to 1.
Shawn Carney.
We’ve seen 40 Days for Life spread rapidly. So this is a catalyst. When you participate in a campaign, it’s not just that you show up on day 1 and you show up on day 40, and you get your t-shirt and you walk off and that’s it.
The abortion issue doesn’t allow us to forfeit that sense of urgency that it demands of us — that no other issue in our culture demands. Because children are aborted every single day.
And so, it serves as a catalyst to enter people into the movement. It may be the political realm. It may be that most of our volunteers volunteer at a crisis pregnancy center or support their banquets. And so that’s something that we really encourage because it’s going to end at the local level with these facilities closing.
Download Full Interview (MP3) | 00:28:00
Life Report trains pro-life people to communicate their views more effectively. Through round-table discussions and interviews with the top experts on the subject, Life Report provides real-world answers to the toughest questions regarding abortion in the 21st century. Follow them on Facebook or Twitter.
Special thanks to Kimberly Carmany for the transcription. Thanks to Andrea Gleiter for helping to edit this post.
