2008 Woodie Awards
The fight of their lives
"Our goal is to end abortion in the Brazos Valley peacefully and prayerfully."
By: Calli Turner
Issue date: 7/10/08 Section: News
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Shawn Carney, class of 2005 and executive director of the Coalition for Life, said the organization is made up of more than 60 churches and thousands of individuals, including students and community members.
"Our goal is to end abortion in the Brazos Valley peacefully and prayerfully," he said.
The coalition formed in 1998 after Planned Parenthood announced they would build the first abortion clinic in Bryan-College Station.
The Coalition for Life stands outside Planned Parenthood to offer sidewalk counseling, and puts on a 40-day campaign in the fall to stop abortion.
"We stand outside of Planned Parenthood because that's where abortions are happening. Oftentimes we see communities like Bryan or College Station and we think that everything is OK and it's not," Carney said.
Elizabeth McClung, class of 2008 and director of communications for the coalition, said the first time she came out to pray was during the 40 Days for Life campaign in fall 2004, her freshman year.
"One of my friends told me that there's this really cool campaign going on and I had no idea what it was - all I knew was that it was 40 straight days of praying, fasting and keeping a presence in front of the clinic and I thought that would be something pretty interesting to get involved with," she said.
The campaign began in Bryan-College Station in 2004 and the first national 40 Days for Life campaign began in 2007, with more than 35,000 volunteers participating.
McClung said abortion rates dropped 28 percent by the end of the first campaign.
The campaign will spread to 275 additional cities in the fall, and to four other countries: England, Ireland, Brazil and Peru.
McClung said it was a tremendous blessing to work with Coalition for Life while attending A&M.
"I was able to come out here and see people in my classes on the other side of the fence - going into the abortion clinic - and I felt like I could relate to people," she said. "It opened my eyes to the fact that so many people are going through so many different things during their lives, and everybody is coming from different backgrounds, but regardless, everybody still needs prayer."
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