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LONDON, March 18, 2014 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Their sidewalk counseling turns so many women from abortion that an international abortion giant has in the past threatened them with legal action.

They were the ones on the front lines witnessing to life when a mother suddenly jumped from an abortion facility window to escape the gruesome death awaiting her unborn child. They were the ones there for the woman when she reached out for help and support.

Like warriors who never give up in the face of all odds, their perseverance has proved victorious in ending abortion services offered at one local clinic. Their work in counseling women is so successful that young people from all over the world come to gain hands-on experience in helping women and saving babies.

How does the Good Counsel Network, one of U.K.’s foremost pro-life crisis pregnancy centers, accomplish so much with so little and against so many odds?

Prayer.

Prayer is the cornerstone of the center’s pro-life work. Staff at the charity believe that the battle to end abortion is not against flesh and blood, as Saint Paul says, but against the spiritual forces of evil (Ephesians 6:12). Evil is combatted by prayer. Thus staff continually storm heaven with prayer during counseling and during work in the office.

Prayer might come easier for Good Counsel Network staff than for those in a regular office. The charity has an adoration chapel built right into their office so staff can pray regularly. 

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“We knew there was a need for a real Catholic approach to women who are in crisis pregnancies,” said Clare McCullough, who founded the charity in 1997, to LifeSiteNews. 

The inspiration for focusing the center’s ministry on prayer originated from the Chicago Women’s Center in the United States.

“We’ve been very inspired by them,” McCullough said. “They have a chapel, they have adoration every day which we’ve taken on board and got permission to have here. It’s a great blessing to see their witness and to see how effective they are. And we still measure what we do by the standard they’ve set.”

About 300 pregnant women come through Good Counsel Network’s door ever year seeking help and support. About 90 percent will choose life for their baby. The center offers free pregnancy tests, free advice, medical information, provides maternity clothes, baby items including clothes, cribs, and pushchairs (strollers). The center also answers numerous enquiries by phone and email.

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The center’s staff runs a daily vigil at nearby abortion clinics. On top of this, the center is currently running a 24/7 40 Days for Life campaign to make even more of a difference at the clinics. During vigils at the clinics, one group prays exclusively for those who counsel the women. The center employs the strategy developed by the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants under the direction of Monsignor Philip J. Reilly in the United States.

According to this strategy, the prayer warriors “provide spiritual and moral support” for the sidewalk counselors who attempt to reach out to the women seeking abortion.

“Before a mother is able to physically abort her child, a 'spiritual abortion' must take place within her heart. By the time she arrives at the abortion mill, she will have already rejected her child,” states the website of the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants. “This 'spiritual abortion' must be overcome by spiritual means, before the mother can change her mind about the physical abortion. By their sacrifice and prayer, the Prayers obtain the grace of God that is needed to reverse the ‘spiritual abortion,’ while at the same time the Sidewalk Counselors are working to prevent the physical abortion of the child.”

“We try to get people praying the whole time,” said Eddie Bauer, who has worked at the center for three years. “It gives the counselors the graces to approach the women and to speak to them.”

“It really works and it’s really effective,” he said, mentioning that about a hundred women chose life for their babies last year alone at the three clinics where the pro-life staff counsel.

Co-worker Iulia Costea said that she sees women frequently decide not to abort after speaking with a counselor who is backed up by prayer support. But despite the best of efforts, many women still decide to continue with the abortion. “People say that women should have a choice. But sadly most of the women who go inside decide to have an abortion just because they have no [other] choice,” she said.

Counselors also hand out pamphlets and show life-sized models of a baby in utero to women entering the clinic.

Justyna Pasek from Poland gave up her job in a casino to work at the pregnancy center after she heard a talk exposing abortion.

“This work is amazing,” she said. “It’s one of the best jobs I’ve ever had in my life.”

Costea, who is from Romania, said she was always passionate about defending the unborn but never knew a place existed where she could make a living doing what she loved doing best.

“One of my friends told me about the Good Counsel [Network] and I applied to the intern program and was accepted. Now I work for them full time and I’m really happy,” she said.

Bauer, who is from the Republic of Ireland, was an assistant manager at a bar in London “looking for a job that would fit in more with my faith” when he stumbled across a pamphlet at that back of his church about an organization that witnessed in front of abortion clinics, something he thought needed to be done in London. 

Bauer started praying with the people from Good Counsel Network, eventually holding vigil with them at abortion clinics. When staff offered Bauer a full time job, he was at first dubious about the proposal, not wanting to earn a living that involved pro-abortion people shouting at him on a daily basis. He had been praying for a new job and wondered if this was an answer to his prayer.

“I gave it a try and haven’t looked back ever since. It’s been an amazing experience,” he said. Bauer has now been with the center for three years.

The center runs entirely on private donations. Funds are always tight and financial disaster always lurks around the corner. Despite this, the center has managed to remain open full time for the last fifteen and a half years. Dependence on God who inspires generosity keeps the center’s doors open. 

“It all really comes from ordinary pro-lifers out there who help what we do,” McCullough said. 

Find out more about Good Counsel Network’s intern program here.

Donate to Good Counsel Network here.