From 40 Days For Life: DAY 14: You're bad for business

There is no other way to say it — your prayerful presence at a 40 Days for Life vigil is bad for the abortion business. Abortion is, after all, a business. A dirty and shady business. No doctor grows up wanting to be the best abortionist in the country. It’s never the plan. Something went wrong ... and many times, due to medical malpractice or personal misconduct, abortionists need cash. Former Planned Parenthood workers say as many as 75 percent of their clients don't show up for abortion appointments when people are outside praying.

Fewer paying customers will mean more abortion centers going out of business ... and that's the topic of this week’s 40 Days for Life podcast -- abortion center closures: https://40daysforlife.com/2017/10/10/podcast-90/ It's because 40 Days for Life vigils cost them money that abortion workers sometimes react in anger to the mere presence of people praying on the sidewalk. Here's what I mean.

Santa Maria, California When about 100 people attended a 40 Days for Life rally at the vigil site, they had their event interrupted when the abortion center director arrived in a big SUV – and wanted to park along the street next to the very spot the rally was taking place. The local team calmly cleared an area so the SUV could pull in. But a man who was traveling with the director jumped out angrily and confronted a priest who’d come to lead prayer at the rally. The priest kept his cool and let the man have his say. When he was finished, the man then followed the director into the building. When it came to the priest's turn to speak, he asked the crowd to pray for the angry man, the director – and anyone else who would ride in that SUV. Later, the man and the director left the building – and the 40 Days for Life team noted a very different attitude, with the formerly angry man even thanking one of the volunteers for clearing the way.

Little Rock, Arkansas At the 40 Days for Life vigil in Little Rock, the abortion center staff has been known to turn the sprinklers on – trying to soak participants. The idea is to keep the prayer volunteers away from the sidewalk. One day during the campaign, a landscaper had parked across the street to do some work. He approached the security guard and asked him to turn off the sprinklers. Not only was his truck getting wet, but he also said it was a traffic hazard. The guard became hostile and started cursing, so the landscaper called the police. It’s worth noting that the landscaper is a former police officer. Five officers in three patrol cars soon arrived to take a report … and one of the prayer volunteers added information about the sprinklers. "We have not had any luck getting them stopped," said Mary in Little Rock. But maybe with a former office filing a complaint, "we will see!"

Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. — Ephesians 4:31-32 Dearest God, You tell us in Proverbs that the foolish and the wicked lack wisdom and understanding. I pray you will trouble the souls of those in the abortion industry so that they hunger for truth and cry out for freedom. See today's full devotional

For life,

Shawn D. Carney President, 40 Days for Life

40 Days for Life 4112 E 29th St. Bryan, Texas 77802 United States (888) LIFE-316