Pro-life stalwart Mark Crutcher’s legacy to never stop fighting to end abortion

The pro-life movement has lost beloved pro-life leader and President of Life Dynamics Mark Crutcher, who passed away in the early morning hours of March 9, 2023. His life was a tribute to his relentless devotion to ending child murder in the womb.

The news of his untimely death has hit me particularly hard, having worked for Mark for almost ten years. But it has also shaken the pro-life community who loved him dearly.

Mark Crutcher, Founder of Life Dynamics, Inc.

Mark Crutcher was the founder of Life Dynamics where he took on the abortion industry with vigor and creativity. His tenacity to end what he called child killing was witnessed on both sides of this battle.

Out of the gate, Crutcher began to investigate the abortion industry and later published one of his most impactful books, “Lime 5”. The book chronicled the horrific abuses within the abortion industry ranging from medical malpractice to sexual assault and is cited by multiple pro-life leaders, including Live Action founder and president Lila Rose, for enlightening and inspiring their activism. Rose said Mark’s book inspired Live Action’s first investigative report into the industry.

“In 1986, Mark committed to working in the pro-life movement full-time, after years of being an outspoken challenger of abortion. He created the Life Activist Seminar and trained more than 15,000 pro-life activists across North America. Then, in 1992, he started Life Dynamics, Inc., which has become a widely recognized pro-life organization,” Mark’s online bio read.

Mark’s dedication to exposing the truth

Mark and his Life Dynamics team were a thorn in the side of the abortion industry. His regular talk show, Life Talk addressed not only the top pro-life news stories of the day, but became one of the few platforms for pro-life people to share what they were witnessing as they stood outside abortion facilities.

LifeTalk’s hosts and guest lists did not always include well-known pro-life leaders, as Mark would regularly interview everyday activists who were being unfairly targeted by police, injured by pro-choice people, demeaned by the media, and sued by pro-abortion activists. Mark had a deep love and admiration for pro-life activists, who in the 1990s were left without any public platform to correct the record, so Mark would tell their stories and defend them every chance he got.

Mark could be controversial and extremely strategic. He once marketed a survey to abortion insiders which garnered a ton of inside baseball from within the industry. And he would often send flyers into the neighborhoods of abortion providers to expose their deeds.

The shoddy and unregulated actions of many abortion providers led Mark to help women who were physically harmed — as well as the families of those killed — by legal abortion to file medical malpractice lawsuits.

Mark’s library of pro-life resources includes brochures, drop cards, books, and videos. His Pro-life Answers booklet was a resource for many activists interested in learning how to respond to difficult questions.

Mark published his book, “On Message,” in 2005, in which he was clear that “this is not a time to relax,” claiming that “belief and commitment were not enough” and that the pro-life movement needed to “capitalize on the opportunities now before us.”

Mark wrote of the movement at that time, “[T]he pro-life position is often compromised or watered down for political expediency or in a misguided effort to appear ‘reasonable…’ You’ll hear people say that they are pro-life but there should be ‘exceptions’ for certain circumstances.”

“There is no such thing as Pro-life With Exceptions,” he noted.

In 2015, Mark penned his book, “Siege,” which he described as a pro-life “field manual,” leaving the movement things to ponder.

“The thing that we must never forget, however, is that it is not a war between the abortion lobby and the pro-life movement; it is a war between the abortion lobby and the unborn,” Crutcher warned.

In “Siege,” Mark acknowledged that pro-life activists could potentially feel “discouraged and exhausted and battle-weary” and be tempted to quit. But, Mark wrote, “We will not quit. We will do our duty. Whatever sacrifices must be made, we will make. Whatever burdens must be borne, we will bear. Whatever obstacles must be overcome, we will overcome.” He added, “If night falls without the promised victory, we will return the next morning, and the next, and the next, and we will keep coming back for as long as it takes.”

Mark’s work inspired other pro-life activists

Mark paved the way for future activists to investigate the abortion industry. His investigation into the selling of aborted baby body parts inspired David Daleiden in his efforts to expose this crime. And Mark’s work to expose how the abortion industry covers up child sexual abuse would later inspire Live Action’s own investigations.

Crutcher’s website ChildPredator.com hosted 600 undercover audio tapes where multiple abortions and Planned Parenthood staffers could be heard advising what they thought was a 14-year-old girl to lie about being impregnated by an adult male.

Mark also published the gripping DVD called “Fire and Ice” in which the audience can listen as abortionist Martin Haskell, inventor of the so-called partial-birth (D&X) abortion procedure, narrates in front of National Abortion Federation attendees how the gruesome procedure was committed.

Mark would later interview former employee whistleblowers of Houston abortionist Douglas Karpen, dubbed the Texas Gosnell, claiming they witnessed the delivery of live babies who were killed after surviving abortion.

Mark and the Life Dynamics staff, of which I was honored to be a part, also deeply impacted the Black community with his eye-opening and award-winning documentary, Maafa21, which exposed the racist and eugenic history of the abortion industry’s largest cartel — Planned Parenthood. His foresight to create an extensive online Margaret Sanger library documenting the Planned Parenthood founder’s eugenic ideology made it impossible for Planned Parenthood to erase its racist history.

Mark was a beloved husband to his wife Tulane and a doting father to the apple of his eye, his daughter Sheila, as well as a loyal friend to many of us within the movement. Mark’s family sacrificed alongside him in their commitment to seeing an end to abortion in this nation.

After hearing news of his passing, Janet Folger Porter, architect of the pro-life heartbeat bill and president of Faith2Action, called Mark “[o]ne of the greatest and most courageous leaders in the pro-life movement, a brilliant strategist, encourager, wise counselor, and a beloved friend.”

Mark loved animals, especially his dogs, and anyone who spent any amount of time with Mark quickly learned that he used to race motorcycles. Mark often captivated those he met with his depth of knowledge about the world we lived in, his insights, and yes, his humorous and often repeated stories. If you spent any amount of time with Mark, you understood his frankness — it could sometimes set you back until you listened and realized that he was right.

While Mark could be a bulldog to pro-abortion media and the industry he aimed to close down, Mark was also very kind to those he saw as bullied or underdogs. Over the years, I watched Life Dynamics (under Mark’s leadership) give away a host of materials, brochures, DVDs, and often the rights to research. He was one of the most generous people I have known when it came to supporting others in this fight.

Mark and I met in the 1990s when I first began doing research on abortion. At that time, Mark was an up-and-coming leader and strategist in the movement and his insights immediately proved accurate. When Mark offered me a job in 2005, I quickly made my way to Texas. Mark loved Texas, and he would often include me with his family car rides around the Dallas area, boasting of the rich history to us as if he were a tour guide. He instilled a deep love of the state within me as well. Mark also loved Mexican food and would often close the office at noon so we could all eat lunch together at his favorite Mexican restaurant.

Mark understood the impact of the pro-life movement but he prophetically warned in a recent pro-life podcast that if abortion were to be “returned to the states” it would end up with multiple states expanding abortion, funding abortion travel at the corporate level and allowing pro-abortion states to establish a “cottage industry” for abortion.

Still, Mark was desperate to see the end of Roe v. Wade and I am thankful that he lived to witness both the end of Roe and the eradication of legalized abortion in the state he loved so dearly. This was a fact not lost on our Lord who decided to call Mark home at 1:22 a.m. In a text thread of close friends surrounding Mark’s passing, it was pointed out that Mark’s homecoming happened with a wink from God to symbolize January 22nd — the date that Roe was passed by the Supreme Court in 1973.

Mark was no-nonsense when it came to saving lives and ending abortion, and his most repeated statement was, “We are not here to just put up a good fight — we are here to win because winning is how this killing stops.”

Mark left the movement with words of encouragement from his book “Siege”:

We will do these things because it is right that we do them and because we know that any price we pay is of no consequence compared to the price being paid by those we have vowed to save.

We also know that our faithfulness and sacrifices will not be spent without result. And a day is coming when the fog of this war will burn off and the fields where it has been fought will fall silent. It will be a breathtaking moment during which we are suddenly made aware that the war is over and God’s promise has been fulfilled.

Mark’s fight to end abortion lives on in every pro-lifer, so like him, let us not grow weary until we see complete victory.

Mark, we will miss you, dear friend. Your legacy lives in our hearts and your inspiration catapults us to keep fighting until the killing stops.

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