Meet the Heroines and Heroes of 40 Days for Life

40 Days for Life is a pro-life campaign of prayer and fasting to end abortion. Held twice yearly during Spring and Fall, it features peaceful vigils outside abortion facilities. Co-founded in 2004 by Shawn Carney (current president) and David Bereit (former director) in Bryan, Texas—the site where Abby Johnson resigned as a Planned Parenthood director in 2009, later portrayed in the film “Unplanned”. Abby was influenced by 40 Days for Life participants as well as by witnessing an ultrasound-guided abortion. Today, 40 Days for Life runs campaigns across the U.S. and in 61 countries. It’s estimated these efforts have saved almost 26,000 unborn lives (tinyurl.com/mrybe36x). Below are three local heroes and heroines of 40 Days for Life of Fort Collins, Colorado which is currently in its Fall campaign  (as are all national campaigns).

Lynn Smith (not her real name): Lynn had an abortion in Fort Collins in May of 1978 after making an uninformed choice while feeling very scared and alone. On Christmas, watching her pregnant sister open baby gifts overwhelmed her: “My baby would have been born near Christmas.” It was one of many constant reminders that her own baby was gone. For years, she often cried herself to sleep with grief and guilt for an irreversible choice that left her empty and heartsick. This was not due to anyone ‘shaming’ her. It was a natural response. Then in 1983, Lynn watched “Abortion Clinic”, a PBS Frontline documentary (tinyurl.com/bdctpd4x). At timestamps 22:00 and 23:30, aborted baby parts from a surgical abortion are shown, laid out for the staff to ensure none remain in the mother’s body. Lynn saw the truth of her own abortion—what she had never known—and it became the start of healing her hidden wounds and being set free. She credits God’s grace and forgiveness for healing her heart. Whenever she tells her story publicly, Lynn has had countless women over the past 40 years say, “You were sharing my story.” She prays outside Planned Parenthood, with a message that elective abortion is a profoundly unnatural thing to do to yourself and your child, and to know how to find support to choose life.

Kevin Williams: Kevin has spent over 15 years counseling abortion-minded women before they enter Colorado Planned Parenthood clinics. His pro-life outreach extends across the U.S. and abroad. Kevin provides financial support and organizes hundreds of baby showers for mothers he’s persuaded to choose life – and connects them to the faith community in their locality. Kevin’s mission traces back to a deep personal loss: Weeping in despair, the love of his life told him she had an abortion. 20 years ago, she died of cancer while Kevin was trapped in meth addiction. Her death drove him to sobriety and launched his life’s work—pleading for the lives of countless unborn children. Each time he ministers to post-abortive women, pointing them to God’s mercy, forgiveness, and healing, he prays that it honors both God and her memory, ensuring her pain was not in vain. Kevin has produced videos chronicling pro-life arguments including a documentary on the subject of children born out of rape or other exceptions. His actual testimonies of women who got pregnant from rape do not match the exaggerated image used by abortion advocates who cite rape cases mainly as a way to advance abortion rights. They claim that every time a mother sees her child, who has been born after rape, she will always be reminded of the rapist and so that child won’t be loved. Kevin’s documentary reveals the opposite – over a dozen mothers provide testimony that children, whether born of rape or incest or with deformities, are the light of their lives, and if they had aborted the child, it would have been a tragedy (tinyurl.com/wuuex67b).

Kristy Neeley: Kristy heads 40 Days for Life of Fort Collins, is a mother of five, who homeschools while also helping care for her aging parents.  Kristy supports ministry work for sex-trafficking cases and testifies at the Colorado Capitol for pro-life legislation. 40 Days for Life of Fort Collins maintains a presence 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. When no one is signed up, Kristy herself goes to pray and fill unattended hours. The current fall campaign is less than two weeks underway, and Kristy needs help. Call to action: Sign up to pray at Planned Parenthood at least one hour a week for the rest of the campaign at www.40daysforlife.com/en/fortcollins (or at the national office at https://www.40daysforlife.com/en/vigil-search.aspx ). There you’ll find details on signing up, locations restrictions, parking, resources, etc. If you were among the millions of people that saw the Charlie Kirk Memorials at Colorado State University or in Phoenix, Arizona in September and want to continue his activism, joining 40 Days for Life may be the answer.

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Lloyd Benes is a retired engineer residing in Loveland, Colorado.