Creating a Culture of Life

 Can the church bring healing to the nation's conflict over abortion? One woman says yes.

For 24-year-old Brandi Swindell, it's never been a question of politics or morality. In fact, it's never been a question at all. She has believed in the pro-life cause since she was old enough to understand it. But today she's more than a believer; she's an activist. The cause became her passion when it became personal. 

Brandi was born in Boise and grew up attending Central Assembly Christian Life Center. After graduating from Maranatha Christian School in 1995, she decided to spend the summer working at the Roosevelt Lodge in Yellowstone National Park. Partway through the summer, Brandi's roommate became pregnant and had an abortion.

"Through that whole situation, I just bawled and bawled, because I identified with the humanity of that baby," Brandi says. "Here we were in Yellowstone, where God's creation is so protected. But this new life was not protected." 

Now Brandi is coordinating a variety of local and national efforts to educate people about the dangers of abortion, counsel women in crisis-pregnancy situations, and extend compassion to women who have had abortions. Vineyard Boise supports Brandi's work by providing office space but she is not on staff at the church.

"Protecting human life at every level is definitely part of the kingdom message," said Vineyard Boise pastor Tri Robinson. "The abortion issue obviously has plenty of social and political complexities attached to it, but that doesn't mean the church should shy away from it. We just need to be careful about exactly how the church gets involved, to make sure we're always approaching things the way Jesus would, with compassion and love and mercy."

As Brandi explains the ministry she envisions, she talks about coming alongside women and encouraging them, helping them to see that the life growing inside them is more than just a mass of tissue and cells. She is quick to point out that her strategy is very different from the stereotypical anti-abortion protests often seen in the national media.

"The face of pro-life America has been the middle-aged man shouting and carrying a picket sign," she says. But "we're about healing, not accusation."

Changing people's values is the goal, she explains, and that's accomplished primarily from three angles:

Brandi remains involved on the national level primarily through Generation Life, a youth-oriented pro-life organization. On the local level, Brandi's ministry is taking shape on several fronts.

One of the most important tasks, she says, is to educate people about abortion - not just the physical dangers, but the social, psychological and emotional dangers as well. And it's not just women who need to be educated.

"Abortion doesn't just affect the woman who has one," Brandi says. "It affects her boyfriend or husband, it affects her family, her friends, her co-workers, her community."

She believes education efforts need to target teen-agers, who often hear about abortion only from the perspective of secular culture. 

Another local ministry Brandi envisions is a crisis-pregnancy center that operates in conjunction with Compassionate Health Care, Vineyard Boise's health clinic that serves low-income people. In addition to counseling, the center could offer free tests for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. Brandi also is working on procuring a sonogram machine - a huge help when it comes to identifying with the baby's humanity, she says.

If this project becomes a reality, it would be the Treasure Valley's only crisis-pregnancy center that has on-site licensed doctors and nurses. "That adds tremendous credibility and resources," Brandi says.

A contact in the Boise School District told her that many school nurses are not entirely comfortable with valley's limited crisis-pregnancy options. These nurses would be more inclined to refer students to a center that's based in a church clinic.

The center would connect pregnant women with a team of people who would mentor and support them through their pregnancy and beyond.

"We want to offer girls a helping hand, not a quick fix," Brandi says.

Brandi also is preparing to form support groups for women who have had abortions. An American Life League study found that 95% of women who have abortions regret their decision, she says, and a majority of those suffer from some form of post-abortion stress syndrome. Some women even become suicidal, she says.

Through the Vineyard, Brandi plans to equip women to support women who have had abortions. This ministry is currently scheduled to start in the fall.

Above and beyond these efforts, Brandi is convinced that prayer is the top priority.

"This is a life and death issue, so it gets very heated at times," she says. "Because of that, it has to be entirely supported in prayer."

Anti-abortion efforts also need to be surrounded by a broader effort to protect, support and enhance life at all levels, Brandi says. Abortion does not happen all by itself. Issues like poverty, mental illness, emotional distress and spiritual emptiness all contribute to a women's decision to abort her pregnancy.

When a single, pregnant woman already has three kids, and she doesn't know where she's going to get the money to feed them, or where she's going to get the money to pay the rent, abortion seems like an attractive solution, Brandi says. People often criticize abortion crusaders because they ignore the social and economic conditions that contribute to crisis pregnancies and shape the life that the baby will be born into. "And you know what? Most of the time they're right," Brandi says.

To be involved with these new life-giving ministries being developed at Vineyard Boise contact Brandi Swindell at 867-1307.