If you’re a pro-life advocate, you’ve probably heard the pro-abortion argument that we don’t care about the babies we save once they’re born, that we just move on and let them languish in their circumstances.
We know that’s not true, of course, and here is one shining example.
John Lewis and Beyond the Pews for Life help pregnant women who might be thinking about abortion.
Lewis founded the sidewalk advocacy ministry out of his passion for life, and his determination to save lives has borne fruit. What started as one man on the sidewalk outside of an abortion facility has grown to save babies and their moms on more than one state.
Through what can at times be a heartbreaking ministry, Beyond the Pews for Life has helped save the lives of between 65 and 70 babies.
Asked how he gauges the impact of his efforts on the lives of the saved children and their families over the long term, Lewis said he keeps in touch, and remaining engaged, he learns about everything from the support they have to where they are in their faith, and he’s able to glean a lot from that about how they’re progressing.
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“Many times, they will do well for a while and then will regress because of something that happens in their life,” Lewis said. “It is then that you must walk with them through this as well. As long as they need us, we do not cease contact if they allow us to stay in touch.”
He and his team support these mothers, guiding them to make important changes in their lives so that they can stay on the right track.
“Real change in someone’s life, especially with the vast majority of our mothers, takes time,” he said. “The tidal wave of change that you see in movies or read about in fictional books is very rare. That is why it is imperative to stay in contact however often is required.”
Tweet This: Real change in someone’s life takes time.
In fact, he said the initial save is “the tip of the proverbial iceberg in what we do.”
“There have been a few moms who have needed very little beyond our initial meeting,” he said. “Those women simply needed someone to speak up and say, ‘We love you. There is another way.’ With those or similar words they did an about-face and seem to come to their senses and never consider abortion again.”
Most of the moms Lewis interacts with, though, are different. He knows most women considering abortions change their minds after seeing an ultrasound. But women can change their minds again once they step back into the same environment that sent them to a place of considering abortion.
“Loneliness and the feeling of having been abandoned has cost the lives of many babies because the mother, once she goes back to being pressured by her family or her situation, often feels she has no other choice but to have the abortion,” he said.
That’s why Beyond the Pews for Life stays in contact daily; it helps them discover the secondary and even tertiary needs moms have.
“For instance, some of our moms may not have a job,” Lewis explained. “One would think that the reason they do not have a job is because they do not want to work. This is often wrong.”
“A big reason why some are not employed is because their vehicle is broken down,” he continued. “Therefore, the real problem is not that they are not employed. The problem is they need their vehicle repaired so they can get to said job.”
The team at Beyond the Pews for Life will also do things like buy new tires for vehicles, get them towed and repaired, buy new vehicles for the mothers, buy sibling supplies, assist with rent deposits, and utility bills, pay for babysitting, fill their gas tanks, and more.
“None of this would have been possible had we not stayed in frequent contact,” Lewis said.
And he hopes to keep doing it and expand the reach of Beyond the Pews the Pews.
“I think herein lies the biggest and best-kept secret to what has happened with Beyond the Pews for Life,” said Lewis. “Several of our mothers have gone on to save babies themselves either through direct personal intervention or through referring them to our organization.”
“To date, 12 babies have been rescued by one of these two methods,” he said.
Lewis recalled that a particular mom named Jasmine came to Christ after confessing to having five abortions, pulling to the side of the interstate and pouring her heart out to Christ asking forgiveness.
Lewis, also a pastor, would go on to baptize her, and Jasmine has since rescued seven babies while on the sidewalk.
“She is the most gifted sidewalk counselor with whom I have ever worked,” he said. “Her story is one of perseverance through, often, unimaginable circumstances.”
As for the babies he’s saved, seeing them is a feeling like no other, he said.
“I always say when invited to speak at churches that the most amazing feeling I have ever had was watching the birth of mine and my wife Laura’s four children,” he said. “Running second to those is holding the babies, for the first time, who are alive because God put us on the sidewalk to speak to those mothers and tell them that God loves them and has a plan for them and their babies.”
