Reflections from an abortion clinic

An old friend from back home who now lives in Boston has been blogging about his experience at an abortion clinic. He and his wife would like to adopt, so he's been going to a clinic to sit outside and hold their sign (at right), hoping someone might choose adoption instead of abortion. He has a post about the first day's experience, and how surprised he was; but this second one was pretty insightful in regards to the contrast between the protesters, and those who are there to help the women coming to the clinic. Here are some of his thoughts...

If I am a young woman approaching this clinic I see two very different groups of people. I see older men and woman holding rosaries, shouting prayers (some over personal amplifiers) and marching around. They come off as aggressive and upset and I can tell that I am not their friend.

I also see a group of people standing quietly but approaching to help me. They are young, they look like me, and they are coming to help me. Their job is wholly to cover and protect me and to help me get where I am going. They do seem like friends...or at least like they could be friends.

And as we sat there on Saturday my heart broke again. Jesus stood over the woman caught in adultery and when everyone else wanted to stone her for what she had done it was Jesus who covered and protected her until the crowd dispersed. And as I sat on the street on Saturday I saw a bunch of people holding pictures of Jesus in their hands and claiming to speak on his behalf. And then I saw others who had no pictures of Jesus but were standing as protectors from the crowd just the way Jesus did. And I was confused.

As we enter week #3 of this experiment I find that my desire to protect the unborn and to adopt a baby is as strong as ever. But with that, I also find my compassion for the women who enter that clinic is growing and I hope so much that over time I will find a way to be the voice in the crowd that is able to speak words of protection and compassion over both woman and child. I don't yet know exactly how to do that but those are the words and courage I am now looking for.

I think it's a pretty cool thing he and his wife are doing, and I wish them well. I think it's a pretty cool thing that God seems to be doing *in him* too. Interesting stuff.