Fifteen years ago, longtime sidewalk counselor Lauren Muzyka could not foresee how her small coalition of pro-life warriors would grow to save thousands of lives across the United States. But just a decade into pro-life ministry and Sidewalk Advocates for Life is making its mark, already having spared thousands of innocent lives from abortion.
The news was shared in an email sent to supporters earlier this past fall by the ministry’s founder, president and CEO, in which she described the “milestone” of helping “save more over 23,000 moms and their babies from abortion.” The message from Muzyka emphasized how the volunteers who make the ministry possible are an answer to her prayers for what she called “a mustard seed” of a pro-life mission.
“I don’t know about you, but these days, people are telling me that kind of hope can be hard to come by,” Muzyka continued, acknowledging that abortion-related tension was rising in days before the U.S. presidential election.
“Regardless of who is in the White House or the debates raging in Congress, our commitment and effectiveness in helping moms and saving babies in our communities remains,” she said.
And the mission of Sidewalk Counselors for Life is pursuing that very goal.
[Click here to subscribe to Pregnancy Help News!]
Muzyka told Pregnancy Help News via email that their work “can be summarized as Mom-Baby-God" and their counseling approach “peaceful, prayerful and law-abiding.”
She emphasized that volunteer counselors are trained to “reach out in love to everyone we encounter on the sidewalk” by “understand[ing]” what leads women to seek abortion and informing them of pro-life alternatives.
“Once we help her understand the resources and support that are available to help her address her unique challenges, then we can help open her heart and mind to the humanity of her preborn child,” Muzyka explained. “It’s all about empowering her to remember she has what it takes to overcome her crisis and be a mom to the beautiful child within her.”
Tweet This: Once we help her understand the resources & support available, then we can help open her heart & mind to the humanity of her preborn child
The beginning of a ministry
Sidewalk Advocates for Life was born from Muzyka’s years of experience in the field of pro-life sidewalk counseling. As she related to Pregnancy Help News, she worked as the 40 Days for Life national Campaign Strategist for over two years, which consisted of advising their 300+ campaigns in North America. Her time in that role was “inspiring,” she said, but sparked a question that grew into a separate ministry.
“I wondered what it would look like if more people on the sidewalk were trained, more specifically, in how to reach out with their words; to know what to say in difficult situations,” she said.
With her own first-hand experience, Muzyka knew the importance of thoroughly preparing sidewalk counselors so they could most effectively minister to abortion-minded women with pro-life alternatives. This background led her to wonder “if [she] could further equip people outside their local abortion facility with professional training and concrete, life-affirming resources.”
Muzyka went on to develop a comprehensive training program for busy people.
She credited the “enthusiastic support of my colleagues and God’s grace” with the first Sidewalk Advocates for Life locations, which were established in 2009.
Today, certified Sidewalk Advocates cover sidewalks outside about a third of the nation’s abortion and abortion-referral facilities.
There are now almost 300 active teams across the United States, compared to the “handful” that started the ministry more than a decade ago. Additionally, ministry teams have sprung up outside the U.S., including in Mexico, Colombia and Puerto Rico.
Expanding ministry to serve more women and babies
When asked about what Sidewalk Advocates for Life is doing to further the reach of its mission, Muzyka said that the organization is “always expanding to better serve our volunteer leaders and their teams,” allowing for the best possible service to pregnant women and their unborn babies.
Muzyka specifically mentioned that the organization’s Programs Department has recently doubled in capacity, allowing for focus on strategic growth in some of the most active abortion centers in the country—specifically California, Colorado and South Florida.
In states where abortion was banned or significantly restricted following the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court decision, a “town square approach” to counseling is being developed, she said.
This is because “pregnant moms have [not] stopped needing help and loving support” simply because abortion is harder to obtain in post-Roe America, Muzyka pointed out.
Additionally, volunteers in different states coordinate with one another to ensure women traveling across state lines seeking abortions can be reached with the resources to help them choose life.
Muzyka said the organization is also working on training Sidewalk Advocates to reach out to women on online platforms, noting that this is where so many people go for information as well as where many women go to obtain the abortion pill.
A top priority for the ministry remains “discerning how we can cover more abortion and abortion-referral facilities across the country,” she said, especially in areas of high demand like Chicago and New York.
Muzyka also acknowledged that 23,000 lives could not have been saved in the past decade without the dedication of volunteer advocates and the generous ministry partners who help to grow and sustain the sidewalk counseling ministry.
“Through the grace of God,” Muzyka said, we hope to ensure that the sidewalk outside every single abortion and abortion-referral facility in the nation and beyond is covered by the loving outreach of Sidewalk Advocates.”
