By Susan Ciancio
In 1999, Dr. Bill Lile, OB/GYN, bought a Pensacola building that housed the Florida panhandle’s largest abortion facility. He immediately turned it into his new obstetrics practice and retired all of its deadly equipment, beginning a new era of serving both moms and babies. However, the ProLife Doc, as he is now called, could not have imagined that nearly 30 years later he would be traveling the country saving babies and teaching science to the next generation.
Early years
Bill Lile grew up in a loving pro-life family in New Jersey and attended Rutgers University for his undergraduate studies and the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey for medical school. He completed his internship at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Camden, New Jersey, and later did his residency in obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Florida. He originally wanted to be an ER doc or trauma surgeon, but when another doctor saw him reading a textbook about obstetrics during an orthopedic surgery rotation, he suggested that since he was spending his time reading that book, he would be well suited for obstetrics. This changed his career trajectory, and now more 5,000 babies later, he says “it was the best advice” he ever received.
In a phone conversation, Dr. Lile explained how that dialogue changed his life and “led [him] to the journey of starting a ministry to educate and defend the preborn in the womb.” He shared, “The moms are my patients, but these babies are really my patients too.”
You might think that a doctor taking over such a heinous facility, with all the abortion equipment still present, would toss each piece into a dumpster and think good riddance, but Dr. Lile had a better idea. In an attempt to help people understand the reality of abortion, he used those pieces of equipment in chilling videos to show exactly how first trimester, second trimester, and third trimester abortions are committed. He rightly understood that seeing the machines, the suction tubes, the forceps, and other equipment would make a profound impact not only on medical students, but on all who watched the videos. He explained that he now uses those tools to “educate people on what abortion is and how it’s an attack on the image of God.”
Not long after he opened his practice, he began speaking at pro-life events, at pregnancy centers, and to teens about the reality of abortion. People started calling him the ProLife Doc, and the name stuck. Today, his “mission is to equip churches, schools, and pregnancy resource centers with biblical truth and medical evidence to confidently defend the sanctity of life and advocate for the preborn.”
In 2025, after many years of speaking and traveling while also practicing medicine, Dr. Lile gave his nine-month notice to the hospital and to his patients and shifted to full-time ministry; he now spends his time speaking throughout the country about abortion. His “Abortion Is Not Healthcare Tour” is “a powerful, interactive presentation challenging students, churches, and communities to rethink abortion through the lens of science, medicine, and patient rights.”
And who better to teach about the science of the preborn baby than an OB/GYN?
To read the remainder of this article, visit the Celebrate Life Magazine website at clmagazine.org/topic/pro-life-champions/the-prolife-doc-a-ministry-of-hope-and-advocacy-for-both-mothers-and-babies.
To read additional pro-life articles that will inspire and educate, visit clmagazine.org.