John,

It's another saved-baby Monday! Halfway through this 40 Days for Life campaign, we know of …

...180 babies saved from abortion through your prayers!

Cherry Hill, New Jersey is a tough place to save babies.

The abortion facility there hired a security guard who works hard to make sure abortion clients don't feel free to talk to vigil participants and sidewalk counselors.

"We're used to him," wrote Claire, the longtime Cherry Hill vigil leader. "But I believe the girls going in are intimidated--if he says not to look at us, they just do what he says."

Feeling discouraged, Claire prayed for a turnaround story that would inspire volunteers to keep coming out.

"God answered my prayer a few hours before I even asked it!" Claire continued.

She learned that a few hours earlier that day, a pair of girls stopped to tell a vigil participant she opted against abortion!

A few days later, a volunteer named Claire Marie saved ANOTHER baby from a second-trimester abortion.

"A man who had brought his neighbor in for an abortion...said he tried to talk her out of it, but she intended to do it," Claire reported.

Claire Marie encouraged the man to bring his neighbor information on crisis pregnancy resources. He did, and the two left the abortion facility shortly thereafter.

Virginia Beach, Virginia

A 41-year-old mother of two grown children was shocked to find out she was pregnant again and visited Planned Parenthood seeking an abortion...

...but the presence of 40 Days for Life vigil participants was all she needed to calm her nerves.

"She said she was so thankful for us and that she didn't know what she was doing there, she goes to church, and she knows better," wrote Cheri, the Virginia Beach leader.

Not long after that, another couple chose life, simply telling prayer warriors, "We decided to keep our baby."

Waco, Texas

Just like Cherry Hill and Virginia Beach, the Waco campaign has saved two babies so far this spring.

The brother-in-law of an abortion-bound woman informed a sidewalk counselor that the expectant mother decided to keep her baby.

"Her demeanor, waving at us a she left, reinforces my feeling that she really was going to keep the baby!" said the sidewalk counselor, who offered a "blessing bag" of gifts to the expectant mother.

A four-year-old girl in Waco might be the world's youngest sidewalk counselor. "We heard her asking the girls, 'Would you like a bag?'" said the Waco team.

Isaac prayed to the Lord for his wife because she was barren; and the Lord granted his prayer and Rebekah his wife conceived. The children struggled together within her, and she said, “If it is thus, why do I live?” So she went to inquire of the Lord. And the Lord said to her, “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples, born of you, shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the elder shall serve the younger.”

— Genesis 25:21-23

O, God, you formed us in our mother’s womb and planned a unique and special life and purpose for each of us, and we do thank you. Grant that we may pray and work for an end to abortion, especially in these 40 days, so that no unborn baby you have made may fail to achieve your divine intention for him or her because of intentional abortion.

See today's full devotional

For life,

Shawn Carney
President/CEO, 40 Days for Life