Live Action’s 2024 Gala Awardees: The most vulnerable human lives are worth protecting

Live Action’s 2024 Life Awards Gala took place on Saturday, October 5, recognizing the contributions of three outstanding defenders of life. This year’s awardees were outspoken pro-life Coach Jim Harbaugh, courageous pro-life activist Joan Bell, and inspirational speaker Steventhen Holland, an adoptee who was conceived in rape.

Jim Harbaugh

Coach Jim Harbaugh, whose storied career has taken him from coaching various college football teams all the way to the NFL and the Super Bowl, accepted his award by saying, “Scripture tell us it is better to be hot or cold instead of lukewarm or in the middle, so I’m choosing to be on fire for the sanctity of life! Anyone here alive today?” After raucous cheers from the attendees, he said, “It’s an honor to be here with you tonight, truly, as we speak up for the most innocent and vulnerable among us, the unborn. To give a voice to the voiceless, the unborn child, who deserves to be heard. There is no greater cause to support. In the words of Fr. John Ricardo, ‘All human beings are precious and therefore have rights, but no other rights matter if you don’t have the right to have life.'”

Harbaugh shared that when he was just seven years old, he learned of ancient societies that threw their children off of cliffs and killed them, and he was horrified. A year later, at age eight, he heard a news report of a newborn baby who was found dead in a dumpster, disposed of there — and again, he was horrified. Then, when he was nearly 10 years old, he learned about the Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, that legalized abortion in every state — and he knew what ‘abortion’ meant. “And it all felt the same to me,” he said. “How could this happen? It’s wrong. That moment stayed with me and imprinted a passion for the unborn child on my heart, and I thank God for that, and it began a lifelong calling for me.”

“Children have a purity and innocence that truly reflects the heart of God. That’s why we must protect them and treat them with reverence, loyalty, and love,” Harbaugh said.

Mary Wagner on behalf of Joan Bell

Canadian pro-life activist Mary Wagner attended the Live Action gala to accept the award on behalf of her longtime friend and mentor, Joan Bell, who is currently incarcerated for peaceful pro-life activism. Amazingly, at Live Action’s gala just two years ago, Bell had accepted an award on Mary Wagner’s behalf, when Wagner was herself incarcerated for peaceful activism and unable to attend at that time.

Wagner spoke fondly of Bell, whom she has known for 25 years. “I could talk a lot about Joan… she’s one of my absolute favorite living friends of Jesus… I was struck by Joan just by reading about her in the rescue movement as a teenager.”

Wagner said that she had the opportunity to meet Bell when Bell came to speak at a conference in Toronto. Wagner said she got off the elevator, and “walked into the room as [Bell] was explaining with great joy, ‘We love them, we love them.’ And I thought she must be talking about the children — and I learned she was talking about the abortionists and those involved in taking human life. And it was just something completely new to me as a pro-life person….”

“Her love for the unique person is so Christlike and so fruitful,” Wagner said, remarking that when the late abortionist Dr. Bernard Nathanson became pro-life and later became Catholic, he was so impressed with the commitment of these peaceful pro-life rescuers, that he asked Bell to be his sponsor into the Church.

Wagner closed by sharing words sent directly from Bell for her acceptance of the award. Bell stated by way of Wagner:

I am deeply humbled an honored by Lila Rose and the incredible Live Action team for thinking of us, who try to stand between our little unborn brothers and sisters and a cruel and brutal death by peacefully and non-violently placing our bodies to block this unjust assault.

We pray that God will have mercy on our families, our deceived nation, and our world, which indeed is under the grip of satanic confusion.

You are my heroes, each of you at Live Action and all those who sacrificially support you. Please understand, we do know that many in the overall pro-life movement disapprove of the way we in rescue are called by God to directly intervene on behalf of His helpless children, who in this world are the least recognized among us.

I want to thank you and all pro-lifers for standing with our Lord and Savior, regardless of the cost. Not everyone is able to do a direct intervention rescue, but when even one pro-lifer goes out to a killing site at a child’s greatest time of need to pray and to say to the children, ‘I love you, don’t worry little one, God’s got you,’ then heaven rejoices and God is honored.

Steventhen Holland

Steventhen Holland, a worship leader and pro-life speaker, has lived an incredible story that has touched many lives. Live Action featured Holland’s story in a powerful and moving video, which can be seen here. Holland’s birth mother, who was mentally disabled, was raped and became pregnant with him. Because she was not capable of raising him, she placed him for adoption.

In his Live Action award acceptance speech, Holland said he was adopted at seven days old by a family who, two years prior, had lost a baby boy at 22 weeks of pregnancy. Though he was malnourished, his adoptive family nursed him back to health, determined not to lose another baby, and taught him that “love goes deeper than color, blood, or DNA.”

Holland then thanked his birth mother. “She’s truly my hero… when everyone that she knew was pressuring her to abort me, she refused to kill me, even with only an 11-year-old mental capacity; she said my baby is worth fighting for… She loved me so much that she carried me, homeless, gave birth to me, and placed me into an adoption to become a much needed answer to prayers” to an adoptive family.

Holland added that he wished his birth mother were still alive — she passed away in 2020 — because “honestly, [this award is] probably more hers than it should be mine.” He was able to find her and meet her when he was 27, in a very emotional moment caught on video.

“I thank God every day that there were good men and good women that fought for me, that saw value in me, and they did something,” Holland said. “So I want to keep this promise to you all: I’m going to keep fighting back against the evil that is abortion, and continue to share my story, and my mom’s legacy…. Life is still worth fighting for, and no matter how I was conceived, I have worth, I have value, and so do all of you all…. We’re creating a culture of life, and we will win this battle.”

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