40 Days For Life

In the fall of 2018, a local teenager walked to the Planned Parenthood on State Street in Schenectady to obtain an abortion.

The girl arrived with her mother, who had voiced her wishes against the abortion, and still hoped that her daughter would keep the baby.

That day, standing outside Planned Parenthood, was Diane Bigos. She was praying with other volunteers as part of the 40 Days For Life campaign when she noticed the two approaching the building. The mother stopped to chat with Mrs. Bigos, who shared the story of her daughter’s planned abortion and her wishes against it.

“I started to talk to [the daughter] and asked her why she wanted this,” she said. Mrs. Bigos explained there were numerous options and resources available instead of abortion, but in the end, she watched the two walk into the facility.

Until a few minutes later, when the mother and daughter walked back out, both beaming. The daughter announced that she changed her mind and was going to keep the baby.

“That was my first save,” Mrs. Bigos said. “We just see people and we pray with them.”

Her save was thanks to 40 Days For Life, a national, community-based movement to end abortion in dioceses and communities around the country. The campaign is held nationally twice a year, during the fall and spring seasons, and has been a staple of the Albany Diocese since 2010.

Mrs. Bigos, parishioner at Immaculate Conception in Glenville, has been a part of the Schenectady 40 Days For Life campaign since its inception in the area.

The movement’s main components include 40 days of prayer, fasting and community outreach, but the centerpiece is the around-the-clock prayer vigil that takes place outside a single Planned Parenthood facility in communities around the country.

Hundreds of volunteers will stand in front of a Planned Parenthood building from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., praying, signing and talking with passerbys about choosing life.

While the 40 Days For Life campaign encourages each vigil to be sustained for 24 hours a day, local campaign directors have found it’s not conducive for volunteers to be out after dark in parts of the Albany Diocese.

Both the Troy and Schenectady areas will be participating in the spring campaign, which kicks off nationally on Ash Wednesday, March 6. While this is the first time a group from Troy has come together, this year marks the 19th campaign for the Schenectady group, which has participated in the campaign for the past nine years.

Viviane Strain, parishioner at Immaculate Conception in Glennville, helped bring 40 Days For Life to the Schenectady area in 2009. She’s been directing the event each year ever since.

“It’s a stronghold here in New York,” she said. “We’re fighting a battle.”

The Troy campaign kick-off event will be on Monday, March 4, at 4 p.m. at Monument Square in Troy. The event will serve as both an orientation and prayer rally; Pray to End Abortion signs will be distributed.

The Schenectady campaign will also hold its kick-off event on March 4 at 7 p.m. at St. Luke’s parish hall. Guest speakers will include Kate Maloney from Students for Life and Nancy Belzile from Silent No More.

The Schenectady kick-off will also include a tribute to the late Rev. Francis McCloskey, who died Feb. 5. Father McCloskey helped draw numerous Catholics to the pro-life movement throughout his ministry; one of them was Mrs. Strain.

She started as a volunteer with Father McCloskey’s popular “Scripture Wall,” a group of volunteers who pray every Saturday morning from 9 to 10 a.m. in front of the Planned Parenthood on Central Avenue in Albany.

Around 2010, Mrs. Strain began thinking about how she could do more to help. It was only a few days later when someone at her parish happened to bring up the 40 Days For Life campaign: “I thought, ‘This is great! I don’t have to reinvent the wheel.’”

Volunteers are provided signs, songs (both Catholic and non-denominational) and prayers to use while standing outside Planned Parenthood. Some volunteers chant or sing, others are more reserved and will stand silently praying the rosary. Everyone’s approach is different, said Mrs. Strain, and no one way is correct.

Passerbys have stopped to talk to Mrs. Bigos about their own abortion stories, or stories of loved ones who obtained an abortion. Some people recognize the volunteers and bring them coffee or offer a donation: “People do see us, and we’ve gotten to know them by name,” said Mrs. Bigos

Mrs. Strain ensures that each sign taken to the vigil promotes the pro-life message in a positive way, without any aggressive language like “murder” or “killing.” Each volunteer is also trained on things to prepare for while standing on the street and how to discuss such a sensitive topic.

“Yes, we get the finger and yelled at, but God’s got his angels looking out for us,” said Mrs. Bigos. “I have to show God my love for Him and to educate the people out in the community.”

Both Mrs. Strain and Mrs. Bigos have noticed that despite the backlash in years past, more people are stopping to talk with the volunteers and civilly discuss each other’s viewpoints.

“We encourage people to come out,” said Mrs. Bigos. “You can talk to people if you want or just stand pray. It’s just a blessing to be able to be a part of.”