A Decades-Long Legacy: Students Take Part in 40 Days for Life Campaign

Committed for four years to Thomas Aquinas College’s rigorous Great Books curriculum, students do not have much time to spare on a typical weekday. Yet, once a week during the 40 Days for Life campaign this past Lenten season, students on the California campus made time to pray outside the Planned Parenthood clinic in the neighboring city of Ventura. 

“If I can bring a minivan full of respectable young men to show these hurt women that there are some men who truly want what’s best for them, it’s absolutely worth an afternoon of my free time.”

Forty Days for Life, a movement which brings communities together for 40 days of prayer vigils outside of abortion clinics around the world, relies on volunteers to take shifts throughout each week. On Thursdays this past Lent, these shifts were covered by the young men and women of Thomas Aquinas College, California. On top of their classes, homework, and work-study, groups of students added an hour of driving and an hour of standing vigil to give witness to the value of human life. 

“My friends and my Planned Parenthood prayer vigils are very important to me,” says freshman John Sariego (’28). “I feel that men are primarily to blame for a culture that allows abortion. I see every abortion as the direct result of a man’s failure to fulfill his duty to protect the ones he loves. If I can bring a minivan full of respectable young men to show these hurt women that there are some men who truly want what’s best for them, it’s absolutely worth an afternoon of my free time.”

The students’ choice of Thursday to participate in the prayer vigil was no accident: It is a decades-old tradition among TAC students. Thursdays were the days that Angela Baird (’00) led her fellow students to pray outside of Family Planning Associates, an abortion clinic in Ventura. Before she died following a tragic hiking accident on November 6, 1997 — a Thursday — she offered her suffering for the victims of abortion. After her death, students carried on her Thursday tradition of praying outside Family Planning Associates, and exactly six years later, the clinic closed its doors. 

Today’s students look to Angela as a hero of the pro-life cause, who, like them, made time in her busy life to advocate for the unborn. “When I felt tired or overwhelmed, I often took encouragement from the fact that we are part of a decades-long legacy,” says senior Monica Weinkopf (’25), who organized student participation in the 40 Days for Life campaign. “I like to think that Angela Baird continues to be our inspiration and cheerleader. Though we may at times be unconscious of the fact, we stand on the shoulders of a giant.” 

Although their presence was often acknowledged only by shouts of anger and obscene gestures from passersby, the students who continued to pray outside Planned Parenthood week after week were encouraged by their belief that their efforts have an impact, even when they don’t see it. “Forty Days for Life saves lives,” affirms Josephine Sedler (’26). “We know that praying in front of the clinic reduces abortions, even if it is rare to have certain knowledge that you helped a particular person. When you are praying in front of the abortion clinic and you feel useless, you have to remember that nothing you do is as ‘useless’ as Veronica wiping the face of Jesus. Whatever you do for these little ones you do for Him!” 

With the arrival of Easter, the 40 Days for Life campaign has come to an end, but students’ commitment to protect the unborn and women in crisis pregnancies has not. They, as well as the generations of students before them and the generations to come, continue to pray and work toward restoring a culture of life and love.