Christopher Bell is the founder of Good Counsel Homes. Since its founding in 1985, Good Counsel Homes “has helped more than 7,800 homeless women choose life and then along with their beloved children, move from a crisis situation to a brighter future,” according to Catholic World Report. In addition to his own noteworthy pro-life work, Chris is also married to Joan Bell, who has been called the “matriarch of pro-life activism.” She is currently incarcerated pending sentencing for her participation in a rescue action at the Washington Surgi-Clinic abortion facility in D.C. in October of 2020.
Live Action News recently spoke with Chris Bell about his wife’s activism philosophy, the current state of the pro-life movement, and what we can do to preserve hope and more effectively counter the culture of death.
JOAN BELL’S RESCUE PHILOSOPHY
According to Bell, his wife Joan is “doing extremely well” during her incarceration. “Her spirits have been consistently very strong and very high, because she’s using this as a time of prayer and reparation – not only for our sins, but certainly for the sin of abortion in our nation and the world,” he said.
“Joan has always seen this as a sacrificial mission,” he continued. “She always looks at every rescue effort as a very small attempt to try to save lives on that particular day. It results in [the] pain and suffering of going to jail. [But] she says it’s a very, very small pain and suffering considering that a baby’s life could be saved, and a mother’s life could be turned around.”
Even when immediate positive results are not seen during pro-life activism, Bell pointed out that these efforts are never in vain:
Joan says, even if you do not prevent an abortion when you go in [an abortion facility], the fact is, the babies who die that day know – and even the mothers know, everybody knows – that somebody cared enough to give up their freedom to be there. Someone loved enough to sacrifice their time, and energy, and life to be there for [those babies].
[Joan] has also said, if you were in a cattle car that was going to Auschwitz, you were probably sadder that there was silence outside than [you would have been] if you knew that somebody was trying to lay on the tracks and prevent the train from going. Even if they didn’t succeed, you’d have some hope.
Joan and Chris Bell at podium (Photo courtesy of Chris Bell)
STATE OF THE PRO-LIFE MOVEMENT
Live Action News asked for Chris Bell’s assessment of the current state of the pro-life movement as one of its long-time veterans.
“The reality is, Roe v. Wade being overturned is a start,” he stated, emphasizing that it should not be seen as the end of necessary pro-life work.
“I think as a movement, we’ve been shocked that the other side is fighting so hard and so effectively so fast,” he added. “Shame on us, because we should have been preparing.… And, unfortunately, [the end of Roe v. Wade] wasn’t talked about [enough], and it certainly wasn’t planned extremely well. But here we are.”
Bell pointed out that we should be grateful for the end of Roe, but that “we now have to get up to speed.… [And] there is nothing simple about this, because abortion on demand didn’t happen simply with one court decision. It’s really a hundred years ago that the seeds were being laid, with the idea of breeding a better human being and limiting the population.”
Bell also highlighted the extensive conquest of the anti-life agenda: “The big picture is that we’re fighting not only against abortion, but a whole mentality – a cultural, societal, and governmental mentality – that we should limit the human race and we should restrict births.… And certainly the liberalization of abortion… in the states and at the federal level, is only an attempt to destroy people.”
HOW CAN WE FIGHT THE CULTURE OF DEATH EFFECTIVELY?
Given the cultural saturation of pro-death/anti-life and anti-human ideas, Live Action News asked Bell for his thoughts on how the pro-life movement can most effectively fight back. He emphasized the importance of providing help and hope:
Some women, obviously, … are feeling pressured [to abort] or they simply do not know that there is help for them. Joan has always said pro-life people will take care of any woman in a crisis pregnancy, and that is absolutely more true today than it ever has been, because there are nearly 300 maternity homes throughout the United States, and there are thousands of pregnancy centers.
We have to proclaim every time we talk about abortion … that those who’ve had an abortion can find healing and hope. …and that we are here to help women, and we’re not here to condemn anyone.
When asked how weary pro-lifers can best cope with discouragement, Bell said we mustn’t lose sight of the big picture or let go of hope:
We have to be persistent, regardless of how good or bad the political picture looks, or even the abortion numbers, which may or may not be accurate at any given moment in time.
Things may get worse before they get better, but we can never stop, because this is such a horrible holocaust – we can’t allow it to continue, and we can and must do everything we can to turn it around.
We have to be prepared to keep saving every life we can, to heal those who’ve had abortions, and to let everybody know that every mother, every father, every baby is valuable, and we are here to help. We need to build a society … that will embrace every single life.
Abortion, in 50 years, has not done anything positive for the nation or for the culture. It’s important that we point out that loving every child, and helping every child, and supporting every mother and every father is going to build a better, more beautiful, healthier, and happier culture.
Chris and Joan Bell (Photo courtesy of Chris Bell)
ADVICE FOR THOSE ENTERING PRO-LIFE ACTIVISM
Live Action News asked Bell if he had any advice for young pro-lifers and new activists. “You only have to work to save one life, and that’s a great gift to humanity,” he replied.
Speaking with reference to those who might be afraid to get involved, he added:
First of all, not every person who gets involved in the pro-life movement will get arrested. And we still have every legal and moral right [to engage in activism]. Our First Amendment protects us to be able to go up to the doors of death and to talk to women, and to pray with women, and to try to dissuade women from making that [abortion] appointment. That is all legal, and it’s possible.
And the more people we have out there trying to do sidewalk counseling or simply just standing there and praying, [the better].
But for those who feel absolutely called to go into [abortion facilities], and to stay there, and to pray, or even to sit and try to block a door – you need to prepare spiritually, and you need to prepare mentally and emotionally.
How does one go about making these preparations? “To be prepared to give up one’s life – not only freedom, but one’s life – for a greater cause, it’s important to pray,” Bell said. “Prayer is absolutely essential.”
He also encouraged all pro-lifers, particularly activists, to familiarize themselves with the lives, writings, and philosophies of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.
“It’s also essentially important to rid oneself of anger,” Bell stated, adding:
Because anger, even if it’s righteous anger, isn’t going to help win over or convert those people who hate [us]. Jesus Christ didn’t have anger at the people who persecuted Him and physically beat Him, but He loved them, even to His death.
And love, which is such a misused word, really means sacrifice: I love you so much that I’m willing to take on the pain that you are causing others and that you want to inflict on me. … [We] really have to seek to try to love [our opponents] into a greater understanding that everybody is valuable, and unique, and beautiful.…
[W]e can have no malice against those who are going to mistreat us, whether it’s the police, or abortionists, or advocates on the other side. We have to have a deep love in our heart, a love strong enough to withstand their anger and their hatred.
And for those who feel that they do have that love in their heart, and they want to do more, God will lead you. I have no doubt that God will lead you in the right way.
HOW CAN WE SUPPORT INCARCERATED PRO-LIFERS?
Live Action News asked Bell how allies can most effectively support the pro-life activists currently in jail, like his wife Joan. He responded:
I asked Joan, knowing that she was going to be convicted, “What do you want to tell people who are going to be concerned with you and everybody behind bars? How do you want to encourage them?” And she looked at me a little quizzically, and she just said, “Pray, and do what God wants.”
… Now, after almost 3 months of her incarceration, I realized that’s the best thing anybody could say.
So what do I want to say to those who want to help those who are in prison? Pray, and do what God wants you to do. And usually, that means don’t just sit there.
He further emphasized the importance of persevering in pro-life work: “It’s not so much about getting [rescuers] out [of jail] as focusing more on what we can do to end this holocaust.”
Joan Bell in 2010 (Photo courtesy of Chris Bell)
TRANSFORMING EVIL INTO GOOD
Chris Bell pointed out that good is often brought about by evil, and that this is cause for great hope:
We can bring good out of many bad situations, and God always brings good out of evil. And that’s the other hope that we have to rely on, no matter what we face – that God will bring good out of it.
And that’s exactly what I see with Joan and all of her comrades and companions in prison right now. I do not know when. I do not know how. But I do know, at some point, tremendous good will come out of these incarcerations, and possibly the future incarcerations of other people that feel called to try to save lives – not the least of which will be the lives they do save, and the women and men they prevent from having an abortion. What a happier life they will all have.
The whole pro-life movement is about love, non-violence, and sacrificial giving, Bell concluded, and as more people choose to act on these principles, our future prospects will become brighter. “I expect we’ll see a lot more suffering, a lot more pain, but a lot more good will come out of this. And that’s why we have to love our enemies into life,” he said. “That’s our challenge.”
