The president of 40 Days for Life recently reported that the pro-life organization has seen a great influx of new volunteers in the weeks since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, himself an outspoken pro-life advocate.
Kirk’s “tragic assassination was just two weeks before we kicked off one of our largest fall 40 Days for Life campaigns around the world,” 40 Days for Life CEO Shawn Carney told Fox News Digital in an interview following President Donald Trump’s ceremony awarding Kirk the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
“Over 700 cities participating, and we saw a huge uptick, a 36% increase in participation,” Carney reported. “We had so many young people come out … who knew who Charlie Kirk was and were inspired by him to participate in 40 Days for Life, who then brought their parents out to pray at our vigils.”
Kirk “represented freedom, and there would be no pro-life movement without free speech,” Carney said, adding that 40 Days for Life is “built on” free speech. “It’s what the pro-Life dialogue is built upon. It’s [what] Charlie gave his life for, and it was really, really beautiful for all pro-life Americans to see him honored with the highest honor we have in our nation.”
Fox reported, “Carney believes that Kirk’s willingness to go into tough arenas and his approachable and ‘authentic’ nature drew young people to him and the pro-life movement.”
Carney credited Kirk’s humble demeanor and willingness to talk without defensiveness as factors that made him an effective evangelist of the pro-life cause.
“So many people have been hurt by abortion,” Carney said. “So many people feel strongly in support of reproductive rights. And you just can’t go in and yell or say you’re going to burn in hell. You have to be approachable. You have to use reason. You can’t be afraid to share your faith, as Charlie wasn’t.”
Carney “recalled one young woman — whom he did not name — who said she was ‘so afraid’ to participate in pro-life activism prior to Kirk’s death,” Fox reported. “Carney noted that, despite the ‘horrible images’ of the assassination, many felt empowered and compelled to speak up about their beliefs.”
“You thought the opposite would happen,” he said, “that she’d be more afraid and others would be more afraid, but that didn’t happen. It literally inspired her to overcome years of fear.”
Carney also shared an anecdote about a young member of Turning Point USA, the organization Kirk founded. The young man’s mother asked him not to volunteer with 40 Days for Life, but he responded that his participation in the pro-life effort is what Charlie Kirk would have wanted.
Carney said he believes Kirk was a courageous figure, and that his refusal to “cower” and back down from the culture war is inspiring young people now more than ever.
“Right now in our culture, there’s a lot of reasons to be afraid,” Carney said. “We can’t give in to them. We have to go out. We have to speak the truth and love, and that is what changes hearts and minds. And that’s the best way we can honor Charlie.”
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