Why I Pray Outside Abortuaries.

Left: One of our volunteers, Sr Chinedum Nwadike HFSN prays and counsels outside a Central London abortuary

I first came to pray outside abortuaries a few years ago when I went on a procession with the 'Helpers of God's Precious Infants', who as many pro-lifers know are a group of pro-life people dedicated to defending and upholding the dignity of human life. Their mission is to save the lives of unborn children via the spiritual conversion of their mothers. I was praying with the Helpers who do a regular monthly vigil at different abortion clinics around London and I had been going on the monthly vigil for a couple of months when one of the pavement counsellors approached me and asked me if I was able to do the counselling (normally one or two people counsel and the others pray, I had just been praying so far). I did not feel comfortable at that time to start doing the counselling, as I had not done any kind of counselling before and so I did not actually start the counselling on that day.
At a vigil later on in the year I was approached again by a pavement counsellor who told me he would stay by my side and give me some training so at that point I felt that God was calling me to help with this work for Him. I had seen the 'Counsellor Training video' regarding the pavement counselling by Monsignor Reilly who leads the vigils in America and they are very successful at saving many unborn children, through God's intervention, with their prayers and sacrifices.

I was a little nervous to start off with, but having someone who was used to it there to help me at my side made me feel better and I knew I needed to put my trust in God. I didn't get to say much that day to many passers-by probably due to my nerves but I managed to hand out some of our centre leaflets to offer help to the mums.
It was after this time that I thought about counselling at the nearest abortuary, weekly, which was about 25 minutes drive from where I live. At first I was not sure if I would get the time due to a busy family life, and I was often away, but the thoughts kept coming into my head that God needed me there so I decided I would make time on a Saturday morning, for a couple of hours, to help.

The first day I turned up I was very nervous as there was nobody else there when I arrived and so I asked Our Lady to help me. After a few minutes another counsellor turned up and the people who were helping by praying the rosary. With the leaflets to hand out to the people and with the prayers being said, and my experience working at the Good Counsel Network Centre, I managed to get through it ok.
I pray outside the abortuaries on a weekly basis because I want be there for God, for the mothers and their babies. I want to do what I can to help God to save the lives of the unborn, to reach out to the mothers and fathers and offer them help and also to offer my being there to God. I want to help the mothers and babies in need through prayer and sacrifice in this spiritual battle. Whatever the outcome, I trust in God that our sacrifice and prayers will be of great value toward saving lives of the unborn and for the conversion of the mums and dads who have chosen to abort their babies.
The people who pray at the same abortuary for many years revealed to me that one of the counsellors who prayed there regularly had only just left to live abroad and his last week there as a pavement counsellor was the week before I came.

Lorraine Coyne