Two years or so ago a young man, Jay, came into the pregnancy center where I volunteer, bringing with him a pregnant woman he had encountered in front of Planned Parenthood.
She was heading inside for an abortion appointment. He was praying with a group out front when his met eyes hers, and he said to her, "Don't go in there. They're not going to give you the truth."
She stopped and talked to him, and he encouraged her to walk a few doors up the street to our center.
Because he took the time to be there that day and care about her, this woman was spared the heartbreak of abortion. That mother kept her baby.
Over the next few months, I gradually got to know Jay, 32, who prays at Planned Parenthood a couple times a week. He'd come by for fliers about our center to hand out, or he'd walk young women over to us after dissuading them from going to Planned Parenthood.
A father of two young girls, Jay has been a devoted Catholic since a conversion experience about 10 years ago.
It was his recent job as an Uber driver that prompted him to start sidewalk counseling. One day a young woman called for a pickup not far from where he lived. He went and got her, and she gave him an address.
They drove along until he reached the address, where he saw that it was Planned Parenthood.
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A small group of people were praying out front. Knowing abortions are done there, Jay asked her why she'd want to go there. She said she was scheduled for an abortion and asked him if he'd sign a paper for him agreeing to pick her up afterwards. Apparently, Planned Parenthood wants to know their clients have a ride home after.
Jay declined to sign it. He didn’t want to be a party to her abortion and drove her back home. On the way he pled with her to make a different choice – for her and her child.
This encounter took place before Jay knew that our pregnancy center is just a few doors up from that Planned Parenthood. He did the best he could to deter her, but he doesn't know what that mother decided after they spoke that day.
The experience that day stayed with him.
He kept thinking about the people praying outside the abortion facility with their life-affirming signs, "Ask Me About a Free Ultrasound,” “We Would Love to Adopt Your Baby," "Don't Let Them Throw Your Baby in the Trash."
It disturbed him greatly that inside that building there were people who would kill unborn babies for money.
A week later he decided to go back to Planned Parenthood, wondering if people would be there praying again.
There was another group of people out front, quietly praying, with one person handing out fliers to people walking in or passing by.
Jay walked up to them and joined in praying.
He spoke to the group afterward and learned that abortions were done at this location through six months in pregnancy. He also learned that a pregnancy care center was just a block up the street, and that's where the group was trying to send pregnant women instead of Planned Parenthood.
Jay learned the term 'sidewalk counselor' and felt an urge to give his time in that way. Being bi-lingual he could be available to speak to the many Spanish-speaking young women and men who were heading into Planned Parenthood to plead with them to save their child.
That day a few years ago was the beginning of a routine for Jay that became a two or three-day per week commitment.
He is out on that prayer line regularly now, frequently leading the rosary and frequently sending pregnant moms up the street to the pro-life pregnancy center.
Because of the time Jay gives to be there, several babies have been saved and their moms spared the tragedy of abortion.
