Abort73 to be Featured in Relevant Magazine

I was recently contacted by Relevant Magazine about a feature they'd like to run for their May publication. It will be built on the answers I provided to the four questions below. I thought I'd pass them along for general consideration (as well as a "by the numbers" look at Abort73 over the last month).

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In January, 2007, Abort73 hosted 45,712 unique visitors who viewed a total of 194,115 pages of content (That's up from of 30,816 / 143,695 for January, 2006). Our video, "This is Abortion" was viewed more than 15,000 times on our site during the month, and countless more times on YouTube and MySpace (after 7 months, and more than 100,000 video views, MySpace deleted the entire Abort73 MySpace page last week - without explanation). There were just over $7,000 in Abort73 DVD and shirt sales during the month.

Finally, I thought it might be helpful if I included some links which give more insight into the strategy behind Abort73: The Abort73 Approach / Why the Name Abort73? / Abort73 Shirts

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1. What inspired you to start the website?

The inspiration behind Abort73.com came in two fazes. About six months after I graduated from college, when abortion was barely on my radar, I heard a message from Luke 10 that hammered me. Prior to that, my response to abortion had been much like that of the priest and the Levite in the story of the good Samaritan... I was passing the victims by on the other side of the street. I believed in theory that abortion was murder, but in practice, I was doing almost nothing to intervene. After realizing that abortion is not primarily a political issue so much as a people issue, a "love your neighbor" issue, I started traveling to universities across the country (with the Genocide Awareness Project) to help educate college students about abortion. Of course, I had to educate myself first, and I was stunned by how overwhelming the biological case against abortion actually is. I soon realized that when the secular evidence against abortion is sufficiently presented, minds change. Abort73.com came along a few years later because I was looking for a more efficient way of reaching huge numbers of students (college and high school) with the truth about abortion. The internet is a perfect fit, but I couldn't find a single website that offered what I would have called a complete and compelling case against abortion. Because of my background in web design, and my knowledge of the issue, I figured I was as well equipped as anyone to give it a go. Upon reading, in John Piper's Brothers, We are Not Professionals, the plea to be a church of "entrepreneurs for justice", who dream up new and more effective pro-life ministries, I finally took the plunge. With the help of some key friends, I incorporated Loxafamosity Ministries as a non-profit, Christian education corporation, and started work on Abort73.com.

2. What’s the most inspiring story you’ve heard as a result of the website?

The most inspiring stories I hear fit into two categories. The first would be for messages like this one: "Because of your website, I choose not to kill my child..." In the second category, I'd put feedback like this:

"I work at a group home with 14 boys. One of the staff explained abortion to them from the pro-choice stand point and had them vote on weather or not it should be illegal. Only 11 voted. 9 voted that abortion should be legal and 2 that it should be illegal. After that I ordered the Abortion Unfiltered DVD from you guys. I showed it to them and 8 voted that abortion should be illegal in all situations and it is murder. 4 voted that it depends on the situation. 2 were not present... God Bless Your Ministry! It is so easy to change peoples minds with this, we just need more effort."

If I had to point to just one story, though, I'd probably go with a response that came in very early on and helped to validate what was (as far as I could tell) a completely untested and unprecedented marketing approach:

"I was a lost and confused 15 year old... I thought I was pregnant and considered my options. Abortion seemed a fair enough option as no one would ever know (especially my parents). I saw my friend wearing a shirt that said "Abort73". I didn't ask her about it, but I was curious what it was about. Later when I got home I visited the site - after 5 minutes my jaw dropped and I realized just how horrible abortion was. Thank you abort73! I am convinced."

3. What is the ultimate mission of your work?

Of course, I want Abort73 to be a God-glorifying venture. That's the big picture. Specifically, Abort73 exists to expose the darkness of abortion (Ephesians 5:11), and thereby rescue those that might otherwise be lost to the slaughter (Proverbs 24:11,12). Right along with that, I want to give as many individuals and ministries as possible the joy of being part of the process, by providing them with some practical entry points for making a difference on their campus or in their community. We all have a desire to make our lives count for something beyond just ourselves. Sometimes, all we need is the right opportunity. I want Abort73 to be one of those opportunities for young people all across the country.

4. What is your vision for the future of the website and Abort73’s work?

I believe that the website, itself, and the accompanying resources will continue to get better and better at communicating the message. The bigger issue, though, is exposure. To have a widespread cultural impact, we need widespread cultural exposure. To that end, I want to do a better job at getting churches involved (which is easier said than done). On one side of the spectrum, you have some theologically-liberal churches that actually support abortion rights. On the other side, you have more conservative, evangelical churches that are extremely averse to any kind of social and/or political engagement. In between, you have a growing number of churches who are legitimately concerned about social-justice type issues, who want to give feet to the gospel, but, for whatever reason, seem to be completely ignoring abortion in favor of more press-friendly issues. I need only look at myself, though, to realize that priorities can change. Abortion persists, not just because so many of those who support abortion are ignorant of the facts, but also because many of those who oppose it can have an equally incomplete understanding. So long as Christians say that abortion is murder, but act as if it's no big deal, nothing will change. But as Christians get a better understanding of what abortion is and does, their likelihood of engaging the culture with this issue increases dramatically. Ultimately, no matter what happens on the legal plane, the more somebody knows about abortion, the less likely they are to have one, and that's a very good thing.