Here’s what happened at Planned Parenthood yesterday

By Tom Quiner

The weather was perfect. We prayed. We held up signs promoting life and discouraging abortion.

As a marketing guy, I counted the number of cars going by at certain times so I could extrapolate the number of cars that saw our pro-life message.

I’d guess we reached about 3500 cars in our two hours in front of Planned Parenthood (PP). Yes, we got the finger on occasion. More likely, though, people honked in encouragement. Countless gave us a thumbs up gesture.

I was struck by how many people were happy to see us there, at how many people smiled inside their cars knowing they weren’t the only ones who believe the baby in the womb has a fundamental right to life.

At one point, a security guard drove up and approached us. “Who’s in charge here?” he asked. “We all are” said one of our group. The man seemed somewhat conflicted to have to say what he was about to say. “You know your protest is being photographed.”

“We’re not protesting, we’re praying” I said with partial disingenuousness.

The guard responded, “Now, I’m not the bad guy here, but you’re going to end up with a $180 ticket if the camera records you parking in Planned Parenthood’s parking lot.”

It hit me what an impact we, and others like us, are having on Planned Parenthood’s abortion business. Their parking lot is expansive. I’ve never seen it more than ten percent full. Our presence, our prayers, our purpose is a threat to their profits. So PP is not issuing warnings anymore. They’re going for the jugular. They’re reporting us to the authorities to immediately ticket us “praying protesters.” (For the record, I parked across the street, which is okay.)

I commented to one of my praying colleagues about the 3500 cars we reached and how many hearts and minds we may have affected. He said, “it only takes one.”