By Judie Brown
This commentary came to me after reflecting upon the amazing work that American Life League has done over the years, beginning with our long-standing efforts to protect preborn babies and then moving to stopping Planned Parenthood, to educating our children, and to galvanizing young people.
It’s time for me to toot our horn a bit and I would like to begin by pointing out that our number one goal, for many years, has been to end the reign of terror implemented daily by Planned Parenthood and its allies. The work of our Stop Planned Parenthood International program has been so very effective in this regard. From shutting down clinics to consistently pointing out the many ways that we can use to fight this behemoth, STOPP is always on the front lines. The recent Wednesday STOPP Report gives you a flavor for what I mean. Check out these headlines: “Obama Is at It Again – Protecting PP’s Money” and the great news discussed in “Planned Parenthood Closes Another Clinic” for just a couple examples of the work we do. We see signs of hope every day because of the actions of STOPP and its grassroots allies.
I also want to share some wonderful news from the Culture of Life Studies Program, our latest and most noteworthy response to the culture of death. When you read the CLSP blog posts, you learn some marvelous things about how to touch the lives of others through your actions both inside and outside your family. For example, expressing gratitude for the gift of life by employing the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy provides a blueprint for a family to reach out and witness to hope by doing things for others. In another post you will learn how one 10-year-old little boy in Texas did his part to raise awareness and funds for the pregnancy resource center in his town. In fact, Max and his mom were recently guests on our own Jim Sedlak’s radio show, Pro-Life Activism from Creation to Death, telling the story of how one young man spreads hope everywhere.
Not only does the website provide inspiration to families and free downloadable lessons for parents, teachers, and others, but CLSP is constantly creating resources to help youngsters from kindergarten through grade 12 learn that respecting human dignity is the cornerstone to building a culture of life. These resources include its latest release—a 3-part unit study entitled Who Was the Real Margaret Sanger? Geared to high school students, this study comes complete with instructor guide and lecture notes for teachers and is a must-have for educating students about the true nature of the founder of Planned Parenthood.
In addition to this, CLSP created a unit study for grades k-2 entitled Life Is Precious, which teaches young children the sacredness of the most vulnerable among us. It also offers a pro-life coloring book entitled The Miracle of Life Coloring & Activity Book and so much more.
The Culture of Life Studies Program is a constantly growing and developing sign of HOPE!
Last but certainly not least is American Life League’s Life Defenders youth outreach, a program that has exploded recently thanks to its See Dignity campaign. Program director Emily Brown is committed to responding to pro-death problems with positive actions everyone can take. She recently addressed the challenge confronted by the unplanned pregnancy of an expectant mother, writing:
Help us show women that we care about them and their babies. Help us show them how to put their trust in God and to understand that all of the people He creates are made in His image and likeness. Abortion is the murder of an innocent child—a gift from God. When we educate and empower women to learn more about the baby growing inside them, we are creating a culture of life. And each and every time we take this step toward creating a culture of life, we weaken the culture of death. If we continue to do this, that culture of death will soon exist no more.
Life Defenders’ efforts are another sign of HOPE!
Put this all together and we have a recipe for victory for the Lord and for His innocent children—both born and preborn.
HOPE! The world needs every bit it can get. And, yes, hope builds a culture of life.
