Many days, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by pro-abortion attacks on common sense protections for babies and moms. Thankfully, a recent conversation I had with a priest and a powerful moment in Eucharistic adoration helped me refocus on the larger picture that each of us in the pro-life movement has a vital role to play in achieving a culture of life.  

I recently stumbled upon a 1982 newspaper clipping describing a high school basketball game where I, at 5-3, played against a 6-2 All-America center. A picture of me dribbling the basketball titled “The Littlest General” was included, and the article asked “if there’s anything in this world which ruffles her feathers.” 

As I read those words, I wondered where that girl had gone. My feathers have definitely been ruffled just a few times lately. My work fighting to ensure women and their preborn children receive exceptional health care has left me feeling like an underdog.  

As a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist who has devoted the past 25 years to advocating for both my maternal and fetal patients, I have been discouraged to see so many attacks on common-sense protections for babies and moms.  

I’d lost sight of the immense help we offer babies and moms through the four pregnancy centers in North Carolina where I work, and grown discouraged by pro-abortion attacks on pro-life protections and pregnancy resource centers.

My own profession’s once-leading medical society, The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), has become an openly partisan wing of the abortion lobby at the expense of babies and moms. It contradicts itself repeatedly in defense of pro-abortion policies, and denies basic scientific truths like the existence of the early development of the heart, and the use of the term baby by doctors before delivery. It even misleadingly refers to miscarriage care as abortions. 

Similarly, pro-abortion politicians and lobbyists have successfully waged fear campaigns that have swayed even Catholic voters into voting for unthinkable policies. For example, exit polling on the Ohio ballot referendum shows that 52% of Catholics joined the majority of Ohio voters in voting Yes to enshrine unlimited abortion into the Ohio Constitution. 

Such numbers shocked me, especially since my own experience speaking with patients, as well as national polling, both show that most Americans oppose the gruesome extremism that Ohio’s ballot referendum — and other state and federal abortion laws — allow. 

Yet ACOG and other pro-abortion organizations have intentionally and successfully convinced voters of the lie that pro-life laws will prevent women from receiving necessary lifesaving care — despite the fact that every single pro-life law on the books has exceptions for the life of the mother. 

This effective and harmful misinformation campaign and pro-abortion attacks have lately made me feel as though my own efforts to protect women and children are akin to the painstaking efforts I once made on the basketball court, desperately defending against that 6-2 All- America center. I felt the self-imposed responsibility to ensure every single person understands our nation’s abortion laws, and goes to the ballot box well-informed and unafraid. 

Yet while sharing these concerns with a priest recently, I quickly realized that no single person is a “star” in this battle for life. Indeed, it’s not even our battle at all, the priest reminded me. It’s His. 

As I prayed the Litany of Trust per the priest’s instruction, I felt peace and strength return in the knowledge that God is in charge, and that he would reward our noble efforts with victory in the long run. 

“From the false security that I have what it takes … deliver me, Jesus,” I prayed, “From anxiety about the future … deliver me Jesus.”

Yet God had another gentle nudge awaiting me. As I prayed before the Blessed Sacrament in the monstrance, I noticed the glass circle encasing the Eucharist, and the light reflecting off it gave it the appearance of a basketball and God brought me back to that old basketball game.

Once again, I remembered how I refused to quit or lose hope despite the impressive skills and size of my opponents. I felt that Jesus was calling me to reflect on the game, and reminding me to “just keep making assists — that is all I need you to do.” I realized that I don’t have to be the MVP, making three-point shots or the game-winning free throw — none of us do.  

Creating a culture where abortion is unthinkable is in God’s hands. He is simply asking all of us to do our part, keep making assists and realize that there are many of us who can put the ball in the basket — say a prayer, have a conversation, stand up for our faith, and vote sacred, not scared. 

We may feel like the underdogs, but if we see this time culturally as an opportunity to out-play, out-think, and out-hustle our opponent, it doesn’t matter whether we win or lose a particular “game,” because there is another day to keep playing tomorrow.  

Susan Bane, M.D., Ph.D., is a board-certified OB/GYN and holds a certificate in theology and health care from the Duke Divinity School. She is the medical director of three pregnancy centers in North Carolina.