As Katie Brown, Judie’s granddaughter, takes on a new leadership role at ALL, she reflects on Judie’s inspiring career and far-reaching influence in the pro-life movement.
By Katie Brown
I recently stepped into the role of national director at American Life League. As exciting as it is, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed at times. Doubts and questions arise, including “What do I have to offer?” or “Do I have the right experience?” But reflecting on my grandmother’s lifetime of accomplishments, I’m reminded that her beginnings in the pro-life movement didn’t start with a fancy degree or years of experience. They started with a simple desire to do more for the babies.
This calling led her to change history.
Judie Brown is, without a doubt, one of the most influential women of the 20th and 21st centuries, having worked with the likes of Saint John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan. Her impressive career as a defender of the preborn has inspired countless people, especially me. Her numerous speeches at national events and appearances on TV shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show made her a household name for one reason: She approaches the defense of human beings with a level of common sense that leaves most pro-aborts without a rebuttal.
“What about the baby?” my granny said to me once on the phone. On this particular call, I had asked Judie what her response would be to using a public relations angle in which we said something like “Planned Parenthood hates women.”
They do, of course, as they make vulnerable young women their primary source of revenue. But Judie was right. What about the baby? The baby, after all, is the one paying the ultimate price in every abortion.
Judie has fought since the 1970s to keep the baby a key part of the fight against abortion violence. Pro-life language these days has morphed into mostly “pro-woman” verbiage, with sentiments like “pro-woman, pro-love” being passed off as buzzwords to end abortion.
What these statements miss is just what Judie never forgets: What about the baby? The pro-woman language from the pro-life movement is largely in response to the other side’s infamous cry of “my body, my choice.” This slogan was formed intentionally to take the focus of abortion off the baby. Every embryology textbook teaches that a preborn baby’s body is separate from the mother’s, so this phrase can only be intended to cause confusion. And unfortunately, a large part of the pro-life movement took the bait and left the baby out of it.
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