COLUMBIA—For some Missouri Baptists, it is simply a matter of obedience to go to the abortion clinic and pray.
For Bonnie Lee, 59, a member of Open Heart Baptist Church here, it is all about truth. Babies are dying at the local Planned Parenthood facility. Who notices? Who stands? Lee is one who does.
“Dr. David Jeremiah says, ‘They choose to believe the lie to save their own arrogance,’” Lee said. “That just resonates, because once they’ve been there and done it they have to hide the truth. They have to deny it, or they have to admit what they’ve done.”
Lee, a Columbia resident, can get emotional when talking about how she chooses to take up her responsibility to defend babies in her community. On Mondays appointments are scheduled; on Thursdays the babies die.
“Babies are being killed in my own city, with my own policemen acting as security guards and escorting those women from their cars into that clinic of death,” she said. “It has nothing to do with reward or what I get from it. Those are precious lives that God has created for a specific purpose, for His pleasure, to be part of His body and His family as they grow and mature. And they’re being snuffed out. And I’ve seen that it can make a difference being there.”
The key to it all, Lee said, is to draw attention to the truth of what is really happening at that abortion mill in that liberal city along Interstate 70 whose culture largely reflects that of the dominant institution in town, the University of Missouri.
What the Catholics who make up the majority of the weekly prayer warriors at the clinic understand is that the presence of the body of Christ—Christians on the sidewalk—makes a difference. For a Christian, according to the prayer leaders in the pro-life movement at Columbia, the presence of being at the abortion mill is like the presence of being at Calvary. Presence is defined by as large a group of intercessors as possible to have the greatest possible influence. Lee explained how that works.
“When you see the people not being able to make eye contact with you, even on days that they’re there to schedule their abortions, when they drive out of the clinic and you see them avoid you, their eyes cast down, most of the time just not wanting to look, you can tell your presence means something,” Lee said.
The second time she showed up to pray a woman pulled up near her and called her over.
“She turned around and pointed to two car seats,” Lee said. “One of them had about a three-year-old in it, and the other one had a very tiny infant. She said, ‘I want you to know that he (the infant) is here today because you guys are out here praying.’
“She had come by Planned Parenthood four different times to abort her baby, and because of the prayer warriors out there she had not gone inside.”
Now the woman calls her son “the most precious thing in my life.”
Escorts and other Planned Parenthood supporters are known to hold up signs like “Don’t take away my birth control” or “Don’t take away my free breast exams.” Lee and friends may counter with a sign that says “77 babies killed here since May 26.” Again, reporting the number of what actually takes place is truth.
“We’re called to stand for the truth,” Lee said.
One of the ongoing methods that the pro-life leaders have been using in Columbia is something called “40 Days for Life,” a campaign that encourages consistent prayer. On Sept. 27, a rally will be held at 6 p.m. at Faith Assembly of God, 1100 N. 7th St., Columbia. Around 7 p.m., participants will march about 1/3 of a mile to Planned Parenthood with battery operated candles. At the abortion mill they will then pray for about an hour.
A recent 40 Days for Life newsletter reported that prayer supporters recently came from various Missouri locations beyond Columbia and Jefferson City. Those include: Freeburg; Holts Summit; St. Thomas; New Bloomfield; Taos; Boonville; and Wardsville. The states of Texas and Arizona were also represented.
Allen Palmeri / associate editor
apalmeri@mobaptist.org