Words matter. The Vitae Foundation knows this all too well. So does Matt Walsh. Daily he communicates via keyboard and voice to illuminate issues of the day. The abortion issue is one he casts a bright light on, as was displayed Thursday night at Vitae’s St. Charles Pro-Life Event.
“Abortion is, in my mind, the defining issue of our time,” Walsh stated at the opening of his keynote. “It’s a wall…that separates us in this country; a wall built with the bodies of sixty million dead babies. It’s more than sixty million, actually, since the decision of Roe v. Wade, and a decision that we hope heads to the trash heap of history with the confirmation of Amy Coney Barrett.”
The blogger and host of “The Matt Walsh Show” on the Daily Wire said this death toll is more staggering than anything the world has ever seen. What makes it more tragic is that the lives of children are snuffed out “by human hands in a building in your local shopping mall that you drive by on your way to work or on your way to Applebee’s.”
“They are killed at the behest of their own parents, with the help of so-called doctors, facilitated by the government. In response to the silent screams of these silent sacrifices from our culture mostly is a giant yawn or even applause in some corners,” Walsh told the crowd gathered at the St. Charles Convention Center.
This magnifies the importance—the necessity—of getting the right words in the right place for that all-important moment, according to Vitae’s St. Louis Market Director Nick Johnson.
“Vitae knows that words critically matter when you want to reach abortion-minded women with alternatives. They matter especially when you apply our research to an ad that has only a millisecond to catch the attention of the abortion-determined woman,” Johnson stated.
One component of Vitae’s strategy, according to Johnson, is the Google AdWords Campaigns conducted with its Legacy Centers. As the word Legacy suggests, Vitae has a rich history with these centers as part of Meet Life, a campaign powered by the Missouri Knights of Columbus’ ultrasound initiative. Vitae provides keyword search for the centers throughout the state, offering women the opportunity to visually meet their yet-to-be-born children via ultrasound, rather than say “goodbye.”
“From January through June of this year, Vitae made 1,025 connections with women and Pregnancy Help Centers in the St. Louis area. These are women who otherwise could have been headed to Planned Parenthood,” Johnson noted.
Vitae President Debbie Stokes warned the winds that are blowing from abortion advocates in this country are more than disturbing.
Stokes shared a video highlighting a new way for women to obtain an abortion—home delivered pills. Known as “Plan C,” this was promoted even before the pandemic of 2020. The Vitae president noted what’s also scary is that Vitae sees abortion proponents using the pandemic to accelerate their agenda for these “self-managed” 21st century abortions.
In May of this year, the ACLU sued Health and Human Services and the FDA on behalf of the American College of OB-GYNs and some pro-abortion groups. They claimed that “requiring patients to visit a hospital, clinic or medical office to get an abortion pill is needlessly risking their health during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
That ruling has already been challenged twice this year, but each time a federal judge upheld it, concluding that “the ‘in-person’ requirements for patients seeking medication abortion impose a ‘substantial obstacle’ to abortion patients and are likely unconstitutional under the circumstances of the pandemic.”
“This ruling allows ‘healthcare’ providers to mail or arrange delivery of abortion pills to patients during the pandemic. It also means that there is no requirement or even need for an ultrasound,” Stokes said.
“Don’t you find it bizarre that, in a year when we hear daily about the number of lives lost to COVID, to raging fires, horrific hurricanes and violence in the streets, that none of the horror, outrage or even compassion is part of an abortion dialogue?” Stokes asked. “When our culture is counting every single life lost to the destructive forces of 2020, there are groups who are not just promoting but demanding more and easier ways to end lives.”
Stokes noted Vitae’s approach in working for a Culture of Life is to change hearts and minds, and Vitae does that in a way that is unique in the pro-life community.
Vitae’s event emcee, Annie Frey, host of “The Anne Frey Show” on 97.1 FM, noted she supports Vitae’s efforts in reaching women who are caught up in this most important life decision.
“My partnership with Vitae is so important to me because they emphasize the care of the woman,” Frey stated. “You are going to have to be those happy warriors that spread the news about Vitae. There is so much good going on here, and it’s a true honor of mine to be a part of this.”
Matt Walsh provided an interesting historical perspective, noting how groups throughout all of history have tried to remove personhood rights from other people.
“All throughout history, there’ve been groups of people pointing at other groups of people saying, ‘Those people aren’t people,’” Walsh stated. “These groups have always said the same thing for thousands of years. Maybe it’s time we finally do away with that kind of thinking. … This is the most outmoded and old-fashioned way of thinking there is.
What I’m talking about here is not an opinion. I’m talking about what is true and fact. The truth is that abortion is the murder of an innocent human life; it just is. It will never be anything less than an outrage or travesty. (It’s) one of the greatest injustices the world has ever seen,” the father of four noted.
On the heels of these words, Frey opened up and shared her personal experiences with ultrasounds when they were happy and when she was scared and sad due to miscarriage.
“It’s terrifying to wonder how you will afford everything that is coming your way, even when you do have a second job. It’s scary,” Frey stated. “In that room there are two hearts beating that matter. The woman is the one who gets to make that choice. By supporting the Vitae Foundation, you are supporting her in one of the most important decisions she is going to have to make.”
It is not too late to help Vitae with its mission of connecting women with Pregnancy Help Centers across the country. Please consider a gift today so women can have their fears relieved and be empowered to make a life-affirming decision.