40 Days for Life campaign begins call for prayer and fasting for end to abortion

CNA Staff, Feb 14, 2024 / 17:25 pm

The 40 Days for Life campaign is inviting others to join in 40 days of prayer during the Lenten season for an end to abortion starting today, Feb. 14.

The international 40-day campaign seeks to end abortion locally through prayer and fasting, community outreach, and peaceful all-day vigils outside of abortion facilities, according to the group’s website.

Starting on Feb. 14, the beginning of Lent, and ending on March 24, Palm Sunday, individuals can take part in prayer vigils happening outside of abortion facilities in their local communities.

The campaign aims to have participants hold prayer vigils nonstop, around the clock, for the 40-day, 960-hour period. 

“It is a peaceful and educational presence. Those who are called to stand witness during this 24-hour-a-day presence send a powerful message to the community about the tragic reality of abortion. It also serves as a call to repentance for those who work at the abortion center and those who patronize the facility,” the website states.

40 Days for Life launched its first-ever nationally coordinated campaign in 2007 and reached 89 cities in 33 states. Today, it has reached over 1,000 cities in 63 countries and claims to have saved more than 20,000 unborn lives. 

Additionally, the campaign has resulted in nearly 150 abortion facilities being closed and more than 200 abortion workers quitting their jobs — one of the most famous being pro-life speaker and advocate Abby Johnson. 

“40 Days for Life continued our record growth and high demand as we launched the largest Lent 40 Days for Life campaign ever in a record 656 cities,” President and CEO Shawn Carney told CNA. “This further reflects that in the grassroots, the pro-life movement has not gone away since the overturning of Roe, but quite the opposite, and has more momentum to end abortion at the local level than ever before in post-Roe America. Recently we saw abortion facilities close in places like New York City, Seattle, and Chicago, showing that you can change hearts and minds anywhere.”

Throughout the 40 Days for Life campaign, individuals, churches, families, and groups are asked to join in prayer for specific intentions each day and are encouraged to fast.

“With over 1 million volunteers praying, fasting, and standing in peaceful vigil, we see God continue to use this effort to save lives, reach women, help abortion workers have a conversion, and close abortion facilities,” Carney said.

You can find a local 40 Days for Life prayer vigil here.