The Unknown Lawyers

These past few days have been ones of experience and growth for me. Recently I’ve been in the South Bronx EMC pregnancy center with Liz - the director and sidewalk counseling at Dr. Emily’s with Jowell and Roseanna. These people have given me a real glance at what pro-life work really looks like.

I’ve read books on pro-life work, logical arguments, and statistics and even though they have taught me a lot and enriched my knowledge, these arguments, statistics and logic often don’t “work” on the average person we see coming in to the pregnancy centers.

This is now a culture of relativism. Our mantra is that there are no absolutes. (Except that one - get the irony?). This battle is not just a battle of whether the baby is human or not, but whether life is intrinsically valuable or not. We are taught that a whale’s life and prevention of extinction is more valuable than a baby’s. (Have you seen the pro-life signs “Pretend I’m a tree and save me?”) This is a culture of self. Everything now revolves around the individual.

All these people who work in pregnancy centers, counseling women to turn away from abortion and choose other alternatives are the unsung lawyers. Many times I have watched directors and other interns sitting with women, day in and day out they dedicate themselves to being a voice for the unborn.

I am all for legislation to stop abortion from happening. Even though I am full of hope that some day in the future a law like that will be passed, it’s not something that I see happening in an instant. I think that politics play a tremendously important role in the pro-life movement. Abortion clinics need to be accountable for what’s happening in their clinics. There must be a check. But right now - the reality is - abortion is legal.

The most eloquent lawyers are the brave men and women who sit in the tiny offices in NYC making passionate pleas on behalf of the unborn children growing in the women who come to see us. Every day a life and death decision is made. We passionately argue for life. And we won’t stop.

*Photo courtesy of Live Action