Love Life Launches Anti-Abortion Campaign In New York City

NEW YORK CITY, NJ — A campaign is underway in New York City to ensure that the silent cry of the voiceless is heard.

Love Life launched Sunday what is perhaps the biggest antiabortion campaign the city of 8.1 million people has ever seen.

“We want to create a culture of love and life to put an end to abortion and the orphan crisis,” said Justin Reeder, one of the nonprofit’s co-founders. “We want to stop people from running to abortion clinics and instead run to their local church.”

Reeder and David Benham started Love Life in Charlotte in 2016 after sensing a calling from the Lord the preceding year.

Benham’s name may sound familiar to some. He and his brother Jason had a reality show, “Flip It Forward,” that HGTV aired in 2014, but cancelled after the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation lobbied the network to cancel the show due to the brothers’ strong Christian faith, the Christian Broadcasting Network reported.

“It was a well-orchestrated and flawlessly executed hit on Christian values,” Benham said in the CBN report.

Now, Benham and Reeder hope to flip the culture of abortion.

“Abortion is the leading cause of death in the United States,” Reeder said. “More death is happening through abortion than because of cancer. I had my own personal conviction about it, and the Lord began working on my heart.”

Abortion is legal in New York City until birth. It is the abortion capital of the world, according to Love Life. More than 64,000 abortions are performed there annually at the city’s more than 35 abortion centers.

Love Life implements a 40-week plan to mobilize people and local churches in the community to get on board with the initiative.

Opening week began with New York City pastors preaching about life Sunday. It continues Wednesday with churches and congregations fasting and praying. It concludes Saturday with a prayer walk from the First Ukrainian Assembly of God church, at 59 Cooper Square or 9 East 7th St. Walks will be held weekly until mid November.

“The walk, it’s not a protest,” Reeder said. “There’s no yelling or screaming. We’re there to pray and worship.”

There are Love Life chapters in North Carolina: Charlotte, Greensboro, and Raleigh. More than 1,500 babies have been saved since Love Life launched in 2016 and more than 45,000 have participated in prayer walks.

Abortions have dropped around 70 percent on Saturdays when the church walks and on Wednesdays when the church pray in the Greensboro and Charlotte area, according to Love Life. More than 250 churches have joined the initiative.

“It’s been amazing to see what’s happened so far, and we’re excited about what’s going to happen in New York City,” Reeder said.

For more information, visit www.lovelife.org.

By Daniel Hubbard, editor