?The weather was foul,? said John in Nottingham. ?Cold and very wet.?

Nonetheless, he said, a woman in her 80s arrived to pray around lunchtime. She had taken two buses from her home just to make it to the vigil ? in spite of the rain ? to support those who were praying on behalf of the babies.

?She needed physical support to stand with us,? John said, ?but she prayed with us for an hour.?

Such signs of encouragement have become quite comforting in the wake of the verbal abuse hurled at the vigil participants ? ?mostly by random angry young men, unaware of the irony of using threatening language to say we are intimidating women, in front of women volunteers.?

There is also a feminist group orchestrating an online petition, complaining that the prayer teams are harassing patients, using verbal abuse, and causing vandalism. ?And just in case you aren?t absolutely certain,? John added, ?no, we haven?t done any of those things!?

The group received additional affirmation from a young man and woman who stopped by to talk to them ? and thank them for being there.

She had been pregnant a while back and many people had tried to persuade her to have an abortion. Despite all the pressure, she had the baby.

?It was only a brief encounter,? said one of the volunteers, ?but it left us smiling!?

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David Brandao, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

With 40 Days for Life, David wears many hats. Prior to joining the 40 Days for Life team, he was an award-winning radio and TV journalist. He has also served as a board member for a pregnancy help center and as publications director for a major national pro-life organization.