Alberta’s Back Porch Project
By Joanne Byfield

It’s been almost five months since the Alberta Life Issues Educational Society (ALIES) launched the Back Porch Project in Edmonton and almost three years since the idea was born. The project is an outreach ministry to women about to have an abortion. Notice I did not say women “thinking about having an abortion” or “considering an abortion.” Our project is designed for women about to enter the Morgentaler abortion clinic in our city. In fact, our office is located directly across the street from the abortion clinic and our back porch door is immediately across from the door of the clinic.
           
As you might imagine, our location was not accidental. It was, however, a divinely orchestrated event. Several years ago the Morgentaler Clinic moved from its grungy spot in west Edmonton to an upgrading retail and professional neighbourhood bordering on an older residential neighbourhood. Several pro-lifers began to dream about getting office space nearby. Within a couple of years, the house immediately across the street came up for sale. It was small, over 90 years old, and generally a “handyman’s special.” It was, however, the house in front of which various groups and individuals had led prayer chains for over a year. The message seemed clear.
           
By April 2005 we had found a buyer and ALIES leased the house from this generous pro-lifer. We set to work to fix up our house and by Thanksgiving, we moved into the house and rented out part of the space to another group.

We had heard a sidewalk counselor describe his encounter with a woman going into a Toronto abortion clinic. She told the counselor that she was open to his message because the night before her abortion she prayed to God to send her a sign if she was not supposed to go through with it. She told the counselor that when he approached her, she knew he was the sign. At the Morgentaler Clinic in Edmonton, which performs about 5,000 abortions each year, there was no one to be a sign, no last chance for these often confused, reluctant and pressured women. We wanted to be a sign for them.
           
Our tiny house has an even tinier back porch. But since its door is so perfectly located across from the clinic, we decided to use it to be the draw for women and couples going into the clinic.
           
We have large signs; one says, “The Back Porch” and another asks, “Were you informed?” and another which says, “See what your pregnancy would look like today” (This refers to a computer program we have that allows you to put in your due date and up pops an image of the embryo as it would look now.) The clinic, on the other hand, has an almost invisible sign so some of the Morgentaler clients mistakenly come into our porch thinking we are the clinic. 
           
Our porch has bright wicker furniture, little lights strung around the windows and brochures on fetal development, pregnancy and post-abortion assistance. We printed cards with the phone numbers of toll free 24-hour crisis pregnancy counseling. We have a handful of volunteers who arrive in the morning just after 7 AM before the clinic staff and clients arrive. They switch on our “Open” sign and wait to see who will come in. We keep a journal and whenever we have an “encounter” with a visitor, we enter the details into the journal.
           
It’s been an incredible learning experience and an emotional roller coaster for the volunteers. To date, we know of one girl who definitely did not go through with her abortion. We’ve had several who stumbled into our porch thinking we were the clinic (that’s most of our “business”) but who are clearly not comfortable with their choice and talk to us, take our literature, but we never hear the outcome of the encounter. Far more often we have girls who come in and instantly leave when they realize who we are.
           
We are constantly revising what we say. We’re changing our signs now and have altered the “look” of our porch to be more attractive to these women. We sometimes get the person who came with them, either parent, partner or friend, who comes in because they are worried that the woman might have problems afterwards. They take our pamphlets and we encourage them to come and talk if they have misgivings.

Now that summer is approaching, we hope to be a bit more proactive. There is an injunction against anyone doing just about anything on the sidewalk in front of the clinic, but our yard and sidewalk are not part of the injunction. We hope to find volunteers who are willing to engage in conversations with the women approaching the clinic.
           
This is not a place for debate or confrontation. This is a ministry to women that must project love and compassion. For volunteers, it is an emotionally draining and often, a disappointing experience. However, we do believe that we are a sign, a beacon of hope for those women and men whose conscience, instinct, or religious beliefs are fighting with their impulse to end this life. God will work in His own way while we work to be His witness.

ALIES can be reached at alies@telus.net or by phone at 780-421-9941.