Sometimes I wonder: Maybe we’d be better off it we were all Louisianans. The rare days I’ve spent there, the people seem happier — more balanced.

Of course, there was the time I accidentally went to Bourbon Street after a hurricane, by myself, at night. Maybe I didn’t think those things as I tried to find my way out amid many closed streets.

Anyway, while I’m on the board of Witness to Love, a marriage-mentoring program founded and based there, the impression is often also confirmed when I’m paying attention to the pro-life movement there. Ben Clapper and David Scotton and friends made not only the powerful adoption documentary I Lived on Parker Avenue happen, they also inspired an actual in-the-theaters movie (Lifemark) about it (produced by the famous-in-evangelical circles Kendrick Brothers and starring Kirk Cameron (of Growing Pains — for those of a certain age — now a Christian-movie star).

Earlier this week, pro-lifers took over the statehouse — which I generally figure is largely redundant — and got two pieces of legislation passed through the House meant to protect women from the dangers of the abortion pills and coerced abortion. Sarah Zagorki from Louisiana Right to Life talks about the Justice for Victims of Abortion Drug Dealers Act and the Stop Coerced Abortion Act. This is also National Foster Care Month, and she talks about how she survived an abortion attempt on her, and the foster-care system.

Please watch and share here:

I think Sarah will encourage and inspire you. I know she has that effect on me. She gets you thinking about how precious the gift of life is — often hard fought for, not to be taken for granted. Also, that a child has a permanent loving home. We know it’s a good, and yet, what are we doing about it? If it’s not fostering or adopting, could it be being a support to foster parents in your community? Goodness, being a support to any parent!

Also, in focusing on women and abortion and their actual health care, do the girls and women in our lives know we are reliable in difficult — seemingly impossible seeming-crises? Do they know we will walk with them with resources with some stability and joy? We can do something. Or something more.

Okay, you can start by listening to Sarah for 25 minutes about what’s going on in Louisiana and what gives her hope.