Kick off for 40 Days for Life will be March 4

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SALT LAKE CITY — Local participation in the national 40 Days for Life prayer vigil will begin on March 4 with a prayer rally outside Planned Parenthood Metro in Salt Lake City.

That evening, the faithful from the parishes of St. Thomas More in Cottonwood Heights, St. John the Baptist in Draper, St, Ambrose in Salt Lake City, St. Martin de Porres in Taylorsville, among others, will join with sidewalk activists and people of other faiths for a short prayer service that will include hymns, a prayer to end abortion read by different individuals, a litany prayer and several pro-life quotes.

The rally will help people get to know each other before they sign up to pray during the vigil, said Barbara Granja, the event organizer. In addition, “It gives them resources like signs and bumper stickers and bookmarks, so it gets people inspired to go.”

During the 40 days after the kickoff, participants will pray outside the clinic for an end to abortion. They are urged to do so with a buddy. They will not interact with the women who enter the clinic; instead, their prayer will act as a silent reminder to the women that the choice they are making is a grave one and that there are other options, Granja said.

‘I think it’s just being a point of light out there for women and their partner or whoever brings them to the clinic to have a second thought, to making a choice to life,” she said. “So we’re just prayer warriors quietly out there in front, just to hope and pray to change hearts.”

‘If a woman’s coming in and she doesn’t see somebody out there, she’s not going to be thinking twice about her decision,” Granja added. “So I think that it really does allow women to consider either pausing or getting an ultrasound image, and that could make a whole big difference to everybody, all involved to choosing life.”

Those who participate in the vigil also pray for the people who work at Planned Parenthood.

“You just feel of these people that are working there, ‘How can you come in and work every day in a situation that’s just a culture of death?’” Granja said.

Although the 1973 federal law Roe vs Wade, which allowed abortions, was overturned in 2022, a Utah law that  would ban most abortions except in cases of rape, incest or fatal abnormality to save the life of the mother was suspended, pending the outcome of a lawsuit brought by Planned Parenthood.

“We’re still fighting the same battle of that trigger law that’s been stuck in the Utah Supreme Court, so that political arena is just a stalemate,” Granja said. “But you know, I really want to educate people that it’s more than just surgical abortions. Over 60 percent of these abortions are getting conducted through chemical abortions; that seems to be even more detrimental to the woman now than anything. What I would like to see is defunding Planned Parenthood as far as the political arena goes, just to cut the money flow. If we can’t do it through laws, maybe we can cut it in that way.”

To sign up for the vigil, use the QR code or contact Granja 40daysforlife.slc@gmail.com or 385-799-5433.

Granja is hoping individuals will sign up for at least one hour-long weekly shift during the 40 days, but she will work with anyone who wants to participate but has less time to offer.

40 Days for Life was started in Texas in 2004 by members of the Brazos Valley Coalition for Life. The campaign has expanded to hundreds of cities in dozens of countries. The campaign’s name refers to events in the Bible that lasted 40 days, such as Noah’s Ark and Moses’s time on Mount Sinai.

WHAT: 40 Days for Life prayer kickoff

WHEN: Tuesday, March 4, 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: In the public right-of-way outside Planned Parenthood Metro, 160 South 1000 East, SLC

To sign up for the vigil, use the QR code or contact Granja 40daysforlife.slc@gmail.com or 385-799-5433.