40 Days For Life activists protest at Planned Parenthood

The semi-annual movement is taking place across the nation.

By Angela Case

Published Sept. 15, 2009

Opponents to abortion rights held a rally Monday to launch a 40-day anti-abortion rights movement. Mid-Missourians for Life sponsored 40 Days for Life, event coordinator Joanne Schrader said.

The event has been held nationwide since 2004, but this is the first year the event will be observed in Columbia. Schrader said the semi-annual event is 40 days long because of the biblical significance of the number.

"In the Bible, there were a lot of transformations that happened in 40 days," she said. "Jesus was in the desert, Noah was in the ark and Moses was in the desert for 40 days."

Diann Foster, a representative of PROLIFE Across AMERICA who spoke at the event, said the goal of the event was to increase awareness of the anti-abortion rights cause. "We're not combative," she said. "We're here to pray for conversion."

Foster said the movement is not restricted to a single religious order, but it "breaks through denominations."

People from a variety of different faiths attended the rally, which was held at the Columbia First Assembly of God.

According to promotional materials for the event, 40 Days for Life is made of three key components: prayer and fasting, peaceful vigil and community outreach.

The most visible component of the 40 Days for Life movement in Columbia will be a vigil held outside of the Planned Parenthood building located on Providence Road. Every day from Sept. 23 to Nov. 1, activists will stand outside the facility from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Many of the event's participants have stood in prayer outside Planned Parenthood independently in the past. Some, though, are anticipating the new experience.

"I've never stood outside Planned Parenthood," Foster said. "I'd like to say I'm looking forward to that, but actually I'm nervous."

Event coordinator Terra Guittar was also nervous about the experience.

"It's got me pretty much shaking in my boots," she said.

Event participant Dakota Hoard said the movement is a vigil, not a protest.

"The scene of people praying provides a positive impression of the pro-life movement in the minds of passers-by," Hoard said.

PROLIFE for AMERICA, the group Foster represents, takes a similar passive approach to the anti-abortion rights movement. The group has sponsored more than 500 billboards across Missouri, none of which specifically mention abortion, but instead focus on education regarding the issue.

The 20-year-old group focuses mainly on fundraising to pay for billboard advertising. Foster said the billboards, which are in 35 states, are focused in areas where abortions are performed. In Missouri, these areas include Springfield, Cape Girardeau, St. Louis and Kansas City, Foster said.

Foster, who used to be an abortion rights advocate, said the anti-abortion rights movement aims not only to help the unborn, but also to assist mothers and fathers who are considering abortion.

"We're here to save babies, but also to help moms," she said.

Many of the event's organizers said their cause is more urgent this year than in years past because of the nation's political leadership.

"The current administration is not friendly to pre-born babies," Schrader said