Record Staff Report
The latest 40 Days for Life campaign began Sept. 27 and will continue through Nov. 5. The effort is held twice a year — in the fall and during Lent. It calls for peaceful prayer, vigil, fasting and community outreach to bring an end to abortion.
The prayerful and outreach part of the campaign is carried out by volunteers, who gather on the sidewalk outside the EMW Women’s Surgical Center in downtown Louisville. They pray in hour-long shifts 24 hours a day.
All prayer vigil participants are asked to sign a “statement of peace” online “pledging to conduct themselves in a Christ-like manner at all times,” said a press release from organizers.
Laura Grijalba, who is coordinating the local campaing, said 40 Days for Life has made a difference in Louisville.
“Our volunteers have made extraordinary sacrifices to expose the abortion industry and to protect children and their mothers from abortion,” said Grijalba.
The national initiative began in 2004 in Bryan and College Station, Texas. Shawn Carney, president of 40 Days for Life, said in the release that since its start, 715 communities have participated, more than 750,000 people from 19,000 churches have committed to praying and fasting and more than 13,000 unborn babies were spared from abortion.
For more information and to sign up to take part in the prayer vigil, visit www.40daysforlife.com/louisville.
