Not long ago, my friend and I grabbed some pamphlets and walked to a nearby neighborhood where we knew nobody, braced ourselves for the worst, and hoped for the best. Our goals were to first to educate and second to mobilize. The Freedom of Choice Act (FOCA) is a pressing piece of legislation that removes any and all restrictions on abortion. Even people who consider themselves fervently pro-choice start to look a bit queasy upon hearing that viable babies can be aborted and that they have to pay for abortions. Even people who consider themselves pro-choice get pretty uncomfortable when they learn that conscience rights that protect the choices of objecting medical personnel and facilities are about to disappear if people don’t act. We wanted to share this information with the public (educate!) and then ask them to sign petitions protesting the passage of FOCA and the rescission of conscience rights (mobilize!).
We were successful in our efforts and it felt amazing. The thing about knocking on doors is that it gets significantly easier each time and the person doing it gets a lot better at it. Just like anything, practice makes perfect. My first time out, I had a 33% signature rate. That’s certainly not bad, but I so desperately wanted to do better. The lives of unborn babies hung in the balance so I figured I needed to get a least a passing grade. This last outing, we knocked on 40 doors, spoke to at least 20 people, and got signatures from most of the people we talked to. Not bad for a day’s work!
The most amazing part of canvassing was watching people change right in front of us. We knocked on the door of a man who was just visiting his family and was sort of hostile when we approached. We were friendly and tried to talk, but he wasn’t quite ready to listen. We kindly understood, but we made sure he took literature from us before we left. We walked away and happened to turn back as we approached the next door. The man we had just spoken with was sitting on his stoop, reading pro-life literature, and nodding along with the points made in it. In that moment, I remembered why I had gone out and knocked on doors that day. We watched a mind change.
We kept going on and knocked on the door of a new mother holding the most beautiful little girl in her arms. We explained what FOCA is and we watched someone who admitted she was pro-choice happily sign a petition when she looked at her little girl and thought about losing her parental rights if her daughter experienced a crisis pregnancy one day. We brought LIFE to her in a way that made it real and it affected her.
Knowing that differences can be made, it’s incredible. Take the plunge, rip off the band-aid, and walk around your neighborhood too so that the message of life can be shared throughout the country and the world. Click here to contact us and to get involved and make a difference. I’m glad I did and I know the approximately 4,000 children that die everyday in this country alone from legal abortion are glad too. After all, don’t they deserve to have us fight for their lives?