Revealing the truth about abortion

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Those interested in volunteering for Sidewalk Advocates for Life may call 316-677-0327 or email [email protected].

Ellen Cyr might have chuckled if you told her a year ago that in 12 months she would be working as the diocesan coordinator of Sidewalk Advocates for Life.

A former ER and traveling nurse, Cyr moved to Wichita in 2022 with her husband, Sam, a pilot stationed at McConnell Air Force Base.

“I stepped away from nursing about a year ago and started a little health coaching business,” Cyr said. “Then I started getting more involved with pro-life work. One thing led to another and I ended up here.”

Cyr, a member of Church of the Blessed Sacrament Parish, said her passion for pro-life work emerged because she couldn’t ignore what she knew about abortion. “And I saw a lot of lies about abortion perpetuated around the time Roe v. Wade was overturned – especially from fellow doctors and nurses I knew.”

No more excuses

After stepping away from nursing, she said, she had more time on her hands and no excuse not to volunteer.

She initially began assisting the pro-life education efforts at Blessed Sacrament Parish and later began volunteering at A Better Choice, a Wichita pro-life ministry for women in crisis pregnancies. After accepting the role as co-leader of ARISE, Blessed Sacrament’s pro-life ministry, Cyr realized how much more education regarding life issues many people needed.

“People just don’t know the truth about abortion – especially what’s going on here in Wichita. People don’t know how bad things are,” she said. “And so that’s what we’ve been doing, bringing in a lot of guest speakers, offering education, and making people more aware.”

Hired as coordinator

Because she understood how great the need is to directly enlighten women before they walk into an abortion clinic, she applied for and was hired as coordinator of Sidewalk Advocates for Life, a part-time position with the Respect Life and Social Justice Office.

“We get women coming into the pregnancy resource center, but a lot of them are not abortion-minded, which is great, because they have so many services they can offer. But we have to be able to meet these women where they’re at. And we know they’re going into these clinics. I just couldn’t ignore it anymore. I had this tug on my heart, so I applied and said, ‘OK, God. I’ll do whatever you want me to do.”

Cyr said the ministry is important because, according to the Guttmacher Institute, one in four women in the United States is expected to have an abortion in her lifetime. “Planned Parenthood regularly documents up to a 75% cancellation rate when there is a peaceful, prayerful presence in front of an abortion facility,” she said.

There are three abortion facilities in Wichita, Cyr said. “We have about 10 trained Sidewalk Advocates who go out to the sidewalks on a regular basis. To have full coverage of all three clinics during business hours we would need roughly 240 advocates to volunteer one hour each week.”

Her work became even more challenging when Planned Parenthood announced last May that it plans to open an abortion clinic in Pittsburg.

Clinic opening in Pittsburg

“We don’t know what the opening date is supposed to be, but probably sometime early fall – it could be as early as August,” Cyr said.

The announcement upset many Catholics and Christians in Southeast Kansas, she said.

“There is a lot of interest in sidewalk ministry,” she said. “They’re on fire in Pittsburg. We’re filling up every single training with 40-plus people. They’re aware of what’s going on and eager to stop it before it gets started.”