Praying People Embrace 40 Days for Life

Patricio, a Mexico native and 30-year Thousand Oaks resident, spends his nonworking hours praying on a sidewalk at a shaded corner of Hillcrest Road between Lynn and Ventu Park Roads. There, an abortion clinic — one of a handful in Ventura County — conducts the surgical destruction of unborn babies. And there, Patricio fulfills what he considers his most important duty — praying for the unborn, and their mothers and fathers.

“As long as [the clinics are] open, I’m there,” he says firmly.

A lifelong Catholic, Patricio discovered a personal zeal for the unborn in 2013 after seeing life-size models of developing babies at each stage. He immediately sought to get involved with the pro-life movement.

“It has been on my mind ever since then,” he told the Guardian. “I eat with it. I sleep with it. I wake up with it. I go around with it. I wear it — whatever I do, I’m in it.”

He connected with 40 Days for Life, an organization with volunteers in hundreds of cities on six continents. The group hosts 40-day prayer vigils outside abortion clinics twice a year. The objective is to end abortion, clinic by clinic, through the power of prayer.

The Thousand Oaks group embraced Patricio’s passion, but when his first 40-day campaign ended, he saw no reason to stop. Rather, he prayed, “God, put me there when nobody’s there. I want to serve you.”

That was in 2013. Today, he spends at least two hours a day, five days a week, outside abortion clinics fasting and praying before he goes to work.

He tells numerous stories of divine interventions and changed minds, of women and couples he has spoken with and prayed for who then chose to have their baby. He credits these successes to an army of prayer warriors — including people like Leonore Schuetz, leader of the Thousand Oaks group since 2018.

“We’re a prayerful, peaceful, public witness,” Schuetz says of 40 Days for life. “We’re not trying to do disruptive crowds or any of that stuff. Our humble, simple goal is a minimum of two people per hour, and we’re manning from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the regular 40 Days for Life campaigns.”

Volunteers engage in silent prayer and hand out pamphlets with resources and messages of hope, while others sing songs and pray in groups. Many hold signs reading “Pray for the end of abortion” and “Reza por el fin del aborto.”

Tessa Coker, a recent college graduate and local pro-life advocate, has participated in multiple 40 Days for Life campaigns, holding signs and praying.

“The signs are more for the people driving by than the women going in, so it’s a dual-purpose,” she explains. “We really do want the community to be aware of what’s happening in their neighborhood. When we are out there and have a presence on the sidewalk, it draws attention to what’s happening — and it draws their attention that we need to be praying for an end to abortion.”

For Schuetz, the fight for the unborn is especially meaningful.

“I was the oldest child of my parents, and they weren’t married, and this was back in 1955,” she told the Guardian. “My dad wanted [my mother] to have an abortion,” but a previous abortion from which she suffered significant bleeding caused her to choose life. Leonore is thankful she did.

“I’m that statistic of people who they say should be aborted because my parents were alcoholics … I’m the kind of people they talk about, ‘Don’t have that baby,’” Schuetz said.

Now Schuetz is defending the right to life for babies in situations like hers.

“We get people every now and then who say, ‘I was looking for a sign, and you guys were there,’” she says.

One day, a grandfather approached the team on the curb with his four-year-old granddaughter and thanked them for saving her life from abortion years earlier.

Schuetz and her team hope to become a “365 location,” where teams gather every day that abortion clinics operate. She has recently seen more people joining the prayer team and expects even more momentum with the upcoming September campaign which runs from September 28 to November 6.

“I’m very excited about more churches joining us from the different denominations,” she says. “I’m excited about more Spanish-speaking people becoming involved. … My dream every year, every day is that they [abortion clinics] close.”

Coker, who also serves with Love Life, another pro-life organization, explains how prayer fuels change.

“It’s God who does the work,” she said. “There’s nothing we can do to change somebody’s mind. It’s only going to be the Lord who’s going to soften their heart and save that baby. When we pray, it lifts those people up to the Lord. We’re interceding for the unborn. We’re interceding for the women, the moms who are going in. We’re interceding for the abortion workers. We’re interceding for the fathers. And we’re also aligning our hearts with God.”

Her mother, Sheri, has also been involved with 40 Days for Life and other local pro-life groups, and the mother-daughter duo looks forward to standing outside of abortion clinics together.

“It’s a spiritual battle,” Sheri Coker says. “We’re here for the women who are coming in … to be a presence out there and just to be faithful to God’s call for what he wants us to be doing: To be faithful, to be bold and courageous — and to stand on the side of life.”