CAPE COD, Massachusetts (LifeSiteNews) — For the first time in its history, 40 Days for Life is launching a campaign in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. The pro-life effort comes shortly after the previously abortion-free islands saw a return of chemical abortion at local facilities.
From September 27 through November 5, the 24-hour prayer vigil will take place outside Health Imperatives, the local facility which began offering the abortion pill this summer in Hyannis. 40 Days for Life campaigns consist of volunteers being physically present outside local abortion facilities through 40 days, praying and offering education to others about abortion and life-affirming alternatives. It is an international effort to end abortion.
“We are eager to join together with people of faith and conscience from 200 cities and towns coast to coast—and beyond—to pray for an end to abortion,” Hyannis campaign coordinator Sheila Quinn said per a press release shared with LifeSiteNews. “It is our prayer that this campaign will help mark the beginning of the end of abortion on Cape Cod.”
Quinn also emphasized a need to “share the facts with as many people as possible during the 40-day campaign” as “many people aren’t even aware” that “abortion takes a tremendous toll on Cape Cod.”
“When my husband and I moved to Cape Cod in 2021, we never thought that we’d be praying at a 40 Days for Life Campaign on the Cape,” Deb Papalia, a local resident, told LifeSiteNews via email. “But we are ready to make the time to pray outside on the sidewalk to witness for life.”
“It’s a sad state of affairs that you have to remind people of the dignity of life. We’ve seen first-hand how praying outside an abortion clinic can save lives.”
Papalia shared how, in 2015, she led a 40 Days for Life campaign in Haverhill, Massachusetts, and the witness and education from pro-lifers helped one pregnant woman choose life. Although the child who was spared from abortion died later in a miscarriage, Papalia told LifeSiteNews that, a year later, she heard of the young woman’s pregnancy with a boy.
After that first interaction outside an abortion facility and maintaining a relationship with the young mother in the mission of 40 Days for Life, Papalia attended the baby shower for the second child and is now the boy’s godmother.
Speaking to LifeSiteNews via email, Quinn further expanded on the importance of the forthcoming campaign, emphasizing that “Abortion is the worst threat in America today.”
“We will repent, pray and intercede for the unborn on the sidewalk and, if possible, offer hope to those who are vulnerable [to obtain] abortion,” she explained. “We will make them aware of abortion [pill] reversal and the toll-free number to call for it. Also, we will give them information on local pregnancy help centers such as Your Options Medical, Birthright, and Walking with Mom resources.”
The 40 Days for Life launch comes just two months after local pro-lifers began an initiative to defend the unborn on the Cape Cod peninsula despite residing in the intensely pro-abortion state of Massachusetts, which boasts a state-level so-called “right” to abortion.
In July, an organizer of the Cape Cod Pro-Life Alliance told LifeSiteNews that the “grass roots effort by Christians of all denominations” exists to give “aid to local life-affirming organizations that provide women experiencing unplanned pregnancies the support needed to choose life for their babies and raise their children.”
This initiative was sparked as a response to pro-abortion politicians and members of the media trying to bring the crime directly to the peninsula, as the nearest killing center was nearly 100 miles away. Co-chairperson Joe Meeks explained at the time that a pro-abortion nonprofit had been granted $700,000 in state funds to expand their “services” to Cape Cod and confirmed that all Health Imperatives locations were set to begin dispensing chemical abortion pills over the summer. Per its website, the medical group also provides contraception, the HPV vaccine “for all genders,” and “gender affirming hormone therapy [sic].”
In addition to the state’s Supreme Court establishing a “right” to murder the unborn in its constitution, Massachusetts law allows abortion on demand up to 24 weeks and up to birth under broad exceptions. Last summer, former Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill requiring private health insurance companies to cover abortion costs. In Massachusetts, Medicaid also funds the crime through taxpayer dollars. Additionally, minors over 16 years old are legally able to access abortion without parental consent.
Details about the specific location and times as well as a link to sign up to join the 40 Days for Life vigil in Hyannis can be found here.
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