40-day prayer vigil planned at area abortion clinics

People of faith have an opportunity to peacefully and prayerfully stand for the unborn as visible witnesses throughout Lent.

The effort is part of the international 40 Days for Life campaign, March 6 (Ash Wednesday) through April 14 (Palm Sunday), said Lauren Bopp, a board member with Nebraskans Embracing Life, local sponsor of the event.

The campaign asks participants to maintain a prayerful presence between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m. for one or more hours outside the Abortion and Contraception Clinic of Nebraska at 1002 W. Mission Ave. in Bellevue and the Planned Parenthood facility at 3105 N. 93rd St. in Omaha.

The 40 days of prayer and fasting draws special attention to praying in the public right-of-way outside the abortion facilities, Bopp said. “We look forward to seeing what kind of transformation God will bring about in our city.”

An opening rally is set for March 3 from 2 to 3 p.m. outside the Bellevue abortion clinic.

The featured speaker at the rally will be Sue Thayer, former manager of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Storm Lake, Iowa. She was fired after speaking out against the organization’s introduction of webcam abortion procedures, and is now active in the pro-life movement.

In 2011, she organized that city’s first 40 Days for Life campaign in front of her former clinic. Shortly thereafter, it became the first of 21 Iowa Planned Parenthood facilities to close.

Thayer also was the founder and former director of Cornerstone for Life Pregnancy Resource Center in Storm Lake, and now is a member of the 40 Days for Life team, serving as director of outreach.

During the Bellevue rally, Omahan Amanda Miller also will tell her life-affirming story of both giving up a child for adoption at age 17 and later adopting children herself, Bopp said.

Other speakers will include Father John Pietramale, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes-St. Adalbert Parish, and Brad Burks, executive director of Essential Pregnancy Services, both in Omaha.

To sign up for a time at the Omaha Planned Parenthood facility, contact Liz Sambol at elizabeth.sambol@gmail.com or 402-651-

4789, or at the Bellevue abortion clinic, contact Bob Henchal at henchal@runbox.com or 402-551-6481. For more information contact Bopp at lbopp4life@gmail.com or 402-553-7163, or visit 40daysforlife.com.