Would You Pray for an Abortionist During Lent?

For the season of Lent, a period of prayer and reflection for many Christians in preparation for Easter, the Pro-Life Action League has put out a request to supporters to pray for three notorious abortion advocates. The social media response has varied widely from supportive comments like, “Keep up the great work. … Praying for these ladies,” to accusations of “harassment, threats and intimidation.”

“We’ve asked for prayers that these three women who are so deeply entrenched in the culture of death will have a change of heart and come to realize that every aborted baby is precious,” explains Ann Scheidler, vice president of the Pro-Life Action League.

This trio of abortion advocates—Kansas abortionist Cheryl Chastine, New Jersey abortion clinic escort Katie Klabusich and pro-choice journalist Robin Marty—are the focus of an escalating dialogue on Facebook, where the Pro-Life Action League has issued a call for all pro-life Christians to pray and fast for these three women during Lent.

The social media campaign includes a meme with the message, “God loves each of them—and so should we, even as we defend our unborn brothers and sisters from them,” along with the words, “Pray for Cheryl, Robin, and Katie each day during Lent.”

These particular abortion advocates were chosen because the League has been involved with them over the past year—protesting Chastine’s family practice office, confronting Klabusich in the blogosphere and giving extended interviews to Marty.

The Facebook post has inspired vitriol from some quarters. One obscenity-laden comment referred to pro-life Christians as “crackpots” and called the meme a “hit list.” Another dissenter mocked the effort: “PRAY for them? You mean pray to have a target drawn on their backs,” and accused supporters of “promoting and perpetrating violence.”

Scheidler acknowledges that such a response was not unexpected, though it is totally unwarranted.

“We want to challenge ourselves and the whole pro-life movement to love our enemies, just like Jesus said to,” she explains. “For a pro-life activist, it can be difficult to really love those who assist in the killing of over 3,000 unborn babies every day in the United States. There is no better way to overcome that difficulty than to pray for them—just like Jesus, who prayed from the cross even for those who were crucifying Him.”

Scheidler also notes that in the past, “God has used pro-lifers’ prayers to draw people out of the abortion industry.” She hopes this prayer campaign will accomplish the same for these three abortion advocates.

For more about the Pro-Life Action League’s Lenten campaign, read “Pray and Fast for Three Abortion Activists This Lent.”