NEVER Again in Waco!
is the name of campaign that challenged the return of abortion to Waco in 2017
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After the Texas HB-2 law was passed in 2013, abortion centers closed in twelve mid-size Texas cities. Waco was the first of these cities to face the return of abortion. This page documents the vigorous Waco battle against the resumption of abortion. This campaign was triggered by two developments. First, in October of 2016, Pro-Life Waco received evidence, but not proof, that the clinic under construction at 700 W HWY 6 was Planned Parenthood. Second, in January of 2017, PLW was notified that Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas had obtained a Texas license to perform abortions in Waco.
At this time Texas faces an expansion of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas to two mid-sized cities in west Texas. Read more about this here. The cities have not been named. Pro-Life Waco hopes that our experience will help those who must battle the expansion of abortion access in 2018. |
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The NEVER Again in Waco! was the PLW response to the initiative to resume abortions in Waco. See the middle column of this page for much more on the following 10 points. 1. Periodic letters and emails were sent, beginning in November of 2016, to contractors working at the 700 W HWY 6 construction project. PLW encouraged contractors not to join the project or to leave it if they were already involved. Some contractors did extricate themselves. 2. During the first three months of 2017, close to 400 yard signs and 10 billboards were displayed around Waco with the NEVER Again in Waco! message. This message also graced the Pro-Life Waco billboard truck. 3. In collaboration with the national #ProtestPP (organized by Pro-Life Action League of Chicago), Pro-Life Waco and CareNet Pregnancy Center of Central Texas, delivered a rally/protest on February 11. The venue was the construction site at 700 W HWY 6 believed to be Planned Parenthood. Over 125 attended. Press coverage was substantial. 4. On February 26, a full-page color ad appeared in the Waco Tribune-Herald calling on Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas to abandon plans to bring abortion back to Waco. The ad was affirmed by 83 pastors and included the names of their churches. The ad was organized and sponsored by Pro-Life Waco and CareNet Pregnancy Center of Central Texas. 5. Pro-Life Waco brought Jim Sedlak of the American Life League to speak for the March 12 Second Sunday Ecumenical Pro-Life Gathering. Jim is the CEO of ALL of Stafford, Virginia and the director of the Stop Planned Parenthood outreach. Jim is the most knowledgeable voice we have on the operation of Planned Parenthood and how to battle their pernicious initiatives. 6. NEVER Again in Waco! paper and online petition drives were launched in March calling on PPGT to terminate their plan to resume abortions in Waco. The paper petition had over 2,000 signatures and achieved substantial church support. 7. In the Waco Tribune-Herald, a Letter to the Editor battle with 19 letters erupted in mid-March. Pro-Life Waco also placed weekly ads in Waco Tribune-Herald Saturday Religion Page. 8. Pro-Life Waco’s regular outreach events carried the theme NEVER Again in Waco! This included our monthly Life Chain and monthly Pedestrian Overpass Outreach over Interstate 35. 9. PLW led protests in other cities of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas with abortion facilities. On March 1, PLW protested the Planned Parenthood Fort Worth luncheon fundraiser that featured Barbara Bush, the daughter of former president George W. Bush. Virtually all major DFW news outlets covered the event. On May 11, PLW protested the Austin Planned Parenthood fundraiser named Cocktails for a Cause. 10. May 2 and November 17 of 2017 were days of great disappointment, but not devastation, for the Central Texas life-defender community. On May 2, Planned Parenthood resumed abortions at 1121 Ross Avenue, where abortions were committed in 2013 before the killing stopped. On November 17, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas held a press conference announcing the mystery building on HWY 6 was indeed Planned Parenthood. The $4.3 million facility would become the abortion center for a huge area of Central Texas east and west of Interstate 35. Pro-Life Waco immediately pivoted to a vigorous and growing challenge to abortion using the momentum and growth generated by NEVER Again in Waco! Our close collaboration with CareNet Pregnancy Center of Central Texas continues. Aine Fitzgerald, who first engaged with PLW at the February rally, is now the very effective director of our 40 Days for Life campaigns. We have new foot soldiers. Veteran foot soldiers are invigorated. We never face defeat when we step out for the Gospel of Life. Defeat can only result from abandoning or refusing to enter the field of battle. The massive marketing area for abortions in Waco in 2018.
In the years before abortion stopped in Waco in 2013, there were abortion centers in closer proximity to Waco, in Bryan and Killeen. Today, Waco is the nearest and most convenient abortion facility for dozens of Texas counties. 
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