The 40 Days for Life Fall 2009 campaign is coming to a close this Sunday, and the Register will have a wrap-up on it in its Nov. 8 edition.

40 Days for Life describes itself as a “community-based campaign that draws attention to the evil of abortion through the use of … prayer and fasting, constant vigil and community outreach.”

This fall, people organized 40 Days for Life campaigns in about 45 states, and so far the national office reports over 400 babies saved from abortion.

Recently, a Wichita, Kan., woman who serves as her parish’s Respect Life coordinator, called the Register to offer her perspective on what can come out of the presence of prayerful pro-life people in front of an abortion clinic.

Wichita, as readers will recall, is where Dr. George Tiller operated for many years. He was one of only a few late-term abortionists in the country, performing partial-birth abortions until his shooting death in May.

He was still in business last Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception, when Jennifer McCoy, respect life coordinator at St. Cecilia’s in Wichita, was outside with two of her nine children. (She’s now expecting a 10th.)

“My 8-year old offered literature to a woman who was on her way into the clinic,” McCoy said. “She stopped her car and started crying.”

“I don’t know what to do,” the woman said.

She went into the clinic anyway, but it was just for an initial consultation. She was scheduled to go back later for the actual abortion.  When she came out, McCoy’s 8-year-old was there.

“Why don’t you park your car and talk to my mother and her friends,” she suggested to the woman, who perhaps couldn’t resist the innocence of the youngster.

McCoy and her friends invited her to visit Choices Medical Clinic, a pro-life crisis-pregnancy center next to Tiller’s clinic. After discussions there, the woman changed her mind.

The baby was supposed to be born July 20, and McCoy called to see how she was doing. “I happened to catch her on her way to the hospital,” she said. She gave birth to a girl Aug. 4.

Tiller’s clinic is still empty. But this woman’s life isn’t.

— John Burger