Editor's note: The following is part of a series of articles highlighting pregnancy help legacies within families.
The Hinshaw family of Long Island, New York, has given the pro-life movement several devoted advocates, beginning in the 1970s
When the Supreme Court legalized abortion in 1973, it had already been the law of the land in New York State for three years.
That prompted pro-life efforts on Long Island that propelled the movement across the country.
Growing up, the five Hinshaw children learned what was going on around the dinner table, at church, in school, and on the news.
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It was in the late 60s that abortion advocates began pushing for legalization in the state. Rick Hinshaw remembers then New York Bishop Walter Kellenberg urging priests to preach from the altar about the coming onslaught, and instructed parishes to form human life committees.
Rick Hinshaw and his brother John Hinshaw joined with other young pro-lifers to start Long Island Youth for Life and Justice, offering speakers to schools and colleges throughout the area.
Rick Hinshaw attended a Knights of Columbus protest rally in Central Park and began praying at abortion facilities as they popped up.
Sister Diane Hinshaw also became involved, praying at abortion centers and participating in the March for Life.
Mary Kate (right) and friend Meagan at the 2009 March for Life
Together the three siblings and their mother joined in the first March for Life in 1974 along with an astounding 97 buses of other pro-life advocates from Long Island.
In a college communications class, John Hinshaw was assigned the pro-life position in a student debate. Three other students would each advocate for abortion, one at three months, another at six months, and the third throughout all nine months.
“I knew I was against abortion morally, but I hadn’t really done any research on the unborn child,” John Hinshaw recalled.
Yet even with three opponents, his professor said he’d won the debate.
John Hinshaw remembers walking across campus thinking, “They had no arguments whatsoever, and yet abortion is legal.”
Tweet This: “They had no arguments whatsoever, and yet abortion is legal.”
One happy outcome of praying at abortion centers came the day Rick met his wife Eileen at a vigil. Shortly after, Rick, Eileen, and John were involved with the formation of a pregnancy center, the Life Center of Long Island.
Rick Hinshaw would go on to head the Family Life office for the Diocese of Rockville Centre.
John Hinshaw recalls when the late renowned pro-life activist Joe Scheidler started sidewalk counseling, urging others to come out to the abortion centers to speak to the young moms and dads heading inside.
“At first it wasn’t so easy to get people to come out to pray at the mills,” he said. “Over the years it’s become much more common. Here in our area, there are so many post-abortive people that they’re a significant number of people praying. Being right outside New York City, Nassau County has the highest abortion numbers in the state outside the city.”
With over nine million babies aborted since 1970, “the testimonies of those who’ve experienced abortion are one of the most powerful things on our side,” John Hinshaw continued. “These people remember the rush, the push of the abortion providers to hurry them along, do it now, so there’s no time to slow down and think, ask God into the situation.”
For years, John Hinshaw would take the oldest of his six kids to the March for Life in Washington D.C., with his wife Brenda Hinshaw staying home with their youngest child. As a family they often prayed together at the local abortion centers.
John Hinshaw volunteered at longtime New York pro-life advocate Chris Slattery’s Good Counselor maternity home in Manhattan, before becoming vice president for five years. He continues to pray at abortion centers and has participated in Rose Rescues.
during the Dobbs hearing
Rick and Eileen Hinshaw’s daughter, Clare Hinshaw, 31, is now an active pro-life advocate. Working with the Young America's Foundation, she runs a pro-life seminar for students and helped create a pro-life activism project for college campuses.
Rick Hinshaw continues to speak and blog on behalf of life, and the entire Hinshaw family continues to foster pro-life awareness and defend unborn life.
