In January 2013, Time magazine printed a extensive and surprisingly balanced story concerning the “pro-choice activists’ failure to adapt to the shift in public attitudes on abortion.”
The cover read:
40 Years Ago, Abortion-Rights Activists Won an Epic Victory with Roe v. Wade
They’ve Been Losing Ever Since
In the almost three years since this publication, we have witnessed Millennials and Post-Millennials rising up to defend life in record-breaking fashion. They are brave, smart, and determined. And they are replacing us.
One example is Save the Storks, a 501(c)(3) organization founded by Joe Baker and his wife Ann in 2011. STS uses innovative methods to serve women (and babies) in crisis pregnancy situations.
We know women, not storks, bring babies into the world. Yet, 33-year-old Baker creatively plays off the old myth. In light of the many “save the whatever” campaigns, whether it’s panda bears, eagle eggs, or whales, STS’ marketing strategy brings to the forefront a new way of talking about human life and appealing to the conscience of the liberal mindset.
STS meets women at their place of need, often on college campuses or in front of abortion clinics with beautifully equipped mobile medical vehicles. Four out of five women who step into one of the STS units and have an ultrasound performed choose life. The power of truth is unmistakable, whether through an image revealing a growing human being or through the sound of his or her beating heart.
While the average nonprofit in the U.S. grows at about 4.6%, STS has grown at a rate of 200% for three years in a row.
“Our mobile units are seeing 250 women at least on average making a decision for life,” said Baker. STS works with pregnancy resource centers all over the nation to provide tools, training, and financial resources. “We're able to really kind of help the centers through the whole process -- from casting a vision to fundraising for launching a successful mobile. So, our grants start at $30,000 and go up to more than $100,000. We pay for a portion and help the center with the difference.”
In light of the phenomenal growth STS is experiencing, Baker and the leadership team are refusing to grow complacent. “We don't just want to launch [only] a couple of mobile units,” he said.
Therefore, STS has recently entered a mentorship relationship with leaders of the successful arts and crafts store giant, Hobby Lobby, Inc. “It's not magic that they've grown to 650 stores,” he explained. “They are really good at business. And they want to help us grow.”
STS’ latest venture is no less impressive.
Most women get connected to an abortion clinic within 48 hours of discovering they are pregnant. “That's your window of opportunity,” explained Baker. “So, how do we reach a woman in the first 48 hours?”
STS found a way – a way that bypasses the abortion industry.
In 2016, STS will start by placing a thousand vending machines containing Assure Me brand pregnancy test kits on the walls of bathrooms in clubs, bars, and universities. A phone number is printed on the test itself; the box and its instructions provide the woman with information that will connect her to a call center where she will be guided through to an appointment with a pregnancy resource center.
The average STS donor amount is $30 to $50 per month, secured through partnerships with comedians, speakers, and bands that tour the U.S. and garner monthly partners for the ministry in the process.
“We do events constantly,” explained Baker. “We just signed on Sanctus Real as one of our bands.”
Baker is in the upper echelon of Millennials, and he epitomizes an extensive and impressive array of young people making a positive impact on our society in the midst of a great injustice -- abortion.
Generation Z, trailing immediately behind Millennials, is casting rays of hope across our once fruited plains. Students for Life of America has reported that since 2013, the number of high school pro-life groups has increased from 120 to nearly 500 across the nation. And with that exponential growth has come a great deal of resistance.
In 2015 alone, Thomas More Society, a legal firm that works with Students for Life of America, has defended eight high school students who were passionate, courageous, and determined enough to fight for the right to start pro-life clubs in their high schools – clubs that educate the student body and provide support for students in crisis.
Angelique Clark, a student of West Career and Technical Academy in Las Vegas, Nevada, started her fight as a 15-year-old over a year ago. Not long ago, her case was finally dismissed after the school district agreed to revise its student club policies to line up with the law.
She knew her rights. She fought. She won. The full story is printed in the January 2016 issue of AFA Journal. A free 12-month subscription to the Journal is available here.
Like STS, Students for Life reaches out to affect the minds and hearts of those some might consider unreachable. The organization is raising funds to air a commercial on MTV. The 35-second ad points women to community health centers and away from Planned Parenthood. Watch it here.
Echoing the Time cover story statement about pro-choice activists, our aged Congress also exhibits an overall “failure to adapt to the shift in public attitudes on abortion,” and it most certainly operates outside the standards set forth by our Creator. And while we’ve recently seen evidence of college students in mass falling in line with liberal thought patterns that seek to silence free speech, we can and should be encouraged and in prayer for the bright lights scattered among them – leaders in their own right.
Leaders replacing us.
