Successful First Year for Sidewalk Advocates
By: Emily Branscum, originally published February 28, 2025, The Archdiocese of Cincinnati, Respect Life Office
It’s been one year since Cincinnati Right to Life began their campaign to shut down Planned Parenthood. By recruiting and training volunteers with the Sidewalk Advocates for Life program, they have worked diligently to get sidewalk advocates present for every hour Planned Parenthood is open. Their efforts at both the Cincinnati and Kettering locations have exploded over the past year. From their partnership with Created Equal which brought them a mobile ultrasound van, to their constant recruitment efforts to gather and train more volunteers, real progress has been made over the past year but there is still much work to be done.
Planned Parenthood sees on average anywhere from 100 to 120 cars enter their Auburn Ave. location daily. The sidewalk advocates have their work cut out for them, but they certainly don’t let those numbers scare them from trying to save lives. In fact, over the course of the past year, there have been dozens of official saves, that we know about. One woman spoke with an advocate right away but still went inside the clinic. It wasn’t until later when a local pregnancy care center reached out to the advocates did they realize this woman had chosen life. Another woman took the literature the advocate handed her on the sidewalk, but still drove inside for her appointment. It wasn’t until she read the handwritten letter the volunteer had included in the literature that she decided to leave and choose life. Finally, one woman and her child were saved because the workers inside the Planned Parenthood ripped the pro-life literature right out of her hands and threw it in the garbage. This woman realized she was treated with much more kindness by the sidewalk advocates, and in that moment she decided to leave and head for a nearby pregnancy center. Finally, one Planned Parenthood worker left for good one day proudly announcing to the advocates that she would not be returning. The advocates connected her to abortionworker.com for further help and she was never seen again!
We know that countless other ‘saves’ have likely happened in ways that we will never know about on this side of eternity. The mere presence of a friendly, soft spoken, and kind sidewalk advocate can make all the difference in the world. Those stories are just the ones we have official confirmations for. In my short time as an active sidewalk advocate I have personally seen many seeds of hope planted in the hearts of those clients who stopped and spoke with us. There was the boyfriend picking his girlfriend up after her abortion appointment who confided in me that he wished she hadn’t gone through with it. The teenagers who came “only for an ultrasound” who ended up turning around because it was too crowded. The angry woman who stopped her car in front of us while driving by so that she could yell at me and my partner for ‘harassing women’. In the first two cases I exchanged phone numbers and literature with those persons and have prayed ceaselessly for them every since. In the last case my partner and I were able to talk the screaming woman down by simply sharing the truth about what our presence really means on the sidewalk. She left saying “Oh wow. I actually didn’t know that is what you were doing. Thank you for sharing”. It’s amazing what charity and perseverance can win you in this battle for lives and souls.
I know that standing on the sidewalk outside Planned Parenthood is a daunting task, especially when you are actually expected to speak to clients! I remember my first few weeks out there were especially challenging. It was hard to switch out of ‘prayer mode’. As many of our readers have surely done, I too had spent many days and weeks praying silently outside those gates. I was more than happy to join the Sidewalk Advocacy effort of course, but it took me a while to really gain the courage to speak up. The trick for me was realizing that I’m not really the one doing any of the work. It’s all God’s doing, His grace, and His words. I’m merely an instrument. The most important thing for me to do is simply show up with a smile and a positive attitude.
Each and every one of us is called to serve the pro-life movement in some fashion. Very few people think they are qualified for sidewalk advocacy, but as the saying goes, “God qualifies the called”. With Lent quickly approaching and its accompanying 40 Days for Life campaign, I want to challenge our readers to seriously consider joining the Sidewalk Advocacy effort. Our current coverage in Cincinnati is only at 70%. That leaves 10 or so hours each week where no advocates are present on the sidewalk. Kettering’s coverage is even less. While you are out completing your hours for the 40 Days campaign, keep an eye on the sidewalk advocates as they work. Watch how simple their job is. Ask them questions about their experiences. Peel back the curtain on that unknown and explore the ways God might be calling you to speak up in a greater capacity. I encourage all our readers to sincerely consider becoming a trained sidewalk advocate. Let God use you and your gifts to save lives. Your presence is the only thing He needs.
Emily Branscum is an Associate Director at The Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and works in the Respect Life Ministries office.
Adam Schad is the Director of Sidewalk Advocacy at Cincinnati Right to Life.
Contact Adam Schad at aschad@cincinnatirighttolife.org if you are interested in training to become a Sidewalk Advocate or if you have already been trained and would like to spend some time on the Sidewalk. Adam can let you know the best way to start, help you find someone to shadow to ease you in, and let you know which days and hours he needs the most help with!