By James Mostrom and Tom Maguire
Syracuse 40 Days for Life marked the end of its 29th campaign of prayer, fasting, peaceful vigil and community outreach on Palm Sunday. It held a prayer service on the sidewalk outside Planned Parenthood on East Genesee Street.
Shannon Guy, RN, and Jeanie Owens, organizers of the local campaign, gave a wrap-up of the national results: 331 babies and their mothers saved from the trauma of abortion (over 23,000 babies since the start of the 40 days for Life campaigns), 247 abortion workers having quit, and 136 abortion centers closed. In Syracuse, during this campaign, two women visited New Hope Family Service’s mobile ultrasound unit, parked across from Planned Parenthood, to receive care. Other babies saved due to women canceling their appointments in response to the presence of sidewalk counselors and prayer warriors can be known only to God. Owens noted that when people are outside an abortion facility quietly praying, it is not business as usual inside. The no-show rate for appointments can climb as high as 75%.
“Continue to bless this [pro-life] effort,” prayed attendee Father Thomas Ward, administrator of St. Daniel Church in Syracuse, “continue to bless the people that bear witness to the dignity of life.” Also attending was Msgr. Eugene Yennock, 97, who sang. He also prayed that “this awful scourge [of abortion] will pass.”
Organizer Guy noted that since the overturning of Roe v. Wade by the Supreme Court last year, there has been an increase in heckling and confrontations with aggressive individuals. “Jeanie and I felt really called at the beginning of this campaign to focus on getting more men out to the sidewalk,” she told the gathering of about 30 people on Palm Sunday. “We’ve had some hecklers out here. … But when a man was out here on the sidewalk, we noticed, these individuals have walked by but they would not approach us.”
Veronique Bennett, of Onondaga Hill, one of the sidewalk advocates for life, displays a sign.
A call for men to help
She added that God “wants more men to come out to the sidewalk … in persona Christi, and he wants that to be what they [inside Planned Parenthood] see when they look out. They see a man out here standing in protection of the women and the children in our community.”
Two women in attendance said aggressors have taken and thrown their pro-life signs. Veronique Bennett, of Onondaga Hill, said that one day a menacing man, perhaps in his 40s, “came on the sidewalk. Immediately he grabbed the two signs that I planted in the snow, and he threw them in the air.” His words were “very evil,” she said, and he used a lot of f-words. The man told her she had no right to be there. She replied, “I’m here by divine right.” Organizer Guy showed up shortly afterward and they called the police.
“She wanted to do something more during the 40 Days for Life campaign,” Veronique’s husband, Tim Bennett, said, “so that’s why she came and I said it’s OK as long as there’s other people that are there.”
Aggressors have also thrown sidewalk advocate Marilyn Duffy’s signs. Duffy, the bookkeeper for Birthright of Onondaga County, said that one time she was in front of Planned Parenthood with Jeanie Owens and somebody came by and “grabbed the things like our bags right off of our shoulders and threw ’em down.” But they are persistent. Owens observed Duffy “becoming a human snowman one day out here. … It just kept loading on her.”
Guy said Planned Parenthood has expanded “services” to include prescribing puberty blockers and other drugs to teens and pre-teens, so counselors need to be prepared to address the hazards of this “therapy” with the younger set. “It’s not just that they’re going after the child in the womb,” she said. “They’re also going after our preteens and our teenagers now with their transgender hormone therapy, and their teachings that are getting into our schools and confusing our children. So there’s no stop to this. … Satan’s always trying to take more. … We’re also now paying more attention to all the teenagers that are coming here. And we’re going to be trying to reach out to them more and more.”
Abortion pill reversal protocol
Organizer Owens also mentioned the increased prevalence of medication abortions and the risks involved. But fortunately, there is now a way to reverse the effects of those medications in women who regret that choice. New Hope Family Services offers an abortion pill reversal protocol, which, if started soon enough can reverse the effects of the medication and preserve the pregnancy. It can be up to 67% effective. Owens said, “Abortion pill reversal … is possible. … We’ve had successes here right in Syracuse.”
Shannon Guy noted: “We do have a couple of women you should be continuing to pray for that have gone through the progesterone treatments, and we’re praying that the baby and the mama are healthy.” Owens added that “they’re followed at New Hope and with a wonderful physician. So keep spreading the word about [the reversal protocol], because the abortion pill is the way they are going more and more.”
One problem Guy pointed out was that with the FDA lifting restrictions on the abortion-inducing medications earlier this year, that has placed many more patients at risk of serious harm or even death. “They took all of the safeguards away on January 3rd … So now a woman does not need to have a sonogram; she does not need to confirm the gestational age of the child in her womb and she doesn’t need to even have a doctor involved, which is so dangerous … Now it’s being dispensed by a pharmacist and a lot of times through the mail. … Women will get this pill in the mail and they’ll sit and wait and think about it. And then they’re taking this pill weeks after they get it in the mail.” Taking these medications later in pregnancy increases the risks to the mother of severe bleeding or infection. And if the pregnancy is ectopic (not in the uterus), failure to recognize this can lead to the death of the mother.
‘All these women
at risk’
Guy added, “There’s not a full disclosure as to how dangerous this pill is. And they’re being told it’s like a Tylenol. … And the very fact that they’re not even confirming with an ultrasound if it’s an intrauterine pregnancy.” She said, “They’re putting all these women at risk. … This is not even being described to these women.” She called on the counselors and advocates to pray about this and to tell other people why this is dangerous and to work to get these medications regulated again. “The sad fact,” she said, is there will be a wave of “women that die over this.”
Finally, Jeanie Owens reminded the participants about what is called Day 41. The fight for life goes on, and she encouraged sidewalk counselors and pro-life advocates and prayer warriors to continue showing up to offer counsel and prayers for the workers and patients at Planned Parenthood, until the day it becomes a Haven for Life.
The next 40 Days for Life campaign is scheduled for September. More information about reversing a medication abortion is available at abortionpillreversal.com.
Owens and Guy offer training for sidewalk counseling and advocacy through a program developed by Sidewalk Advocates for Life, sidewalkadvocates.org.
