PAAU’s Vision of Tomorrow: End of Year Recap
Dear friends,
I want to wish you a happy holiday season and I hope that this letter finds you well. My name is Caroline Smith, and in case we haven’t met, I am the new Executive Director of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising! Since stepping into this role in August, I have had the opportunity to create a vision for PAAU as we look towards the next year and the years after. I wanted to write and tell you about all we have accomplished, what our vision is for the future, and how you can be a part of it.
PAAU was founded in 2021 by Terrisa Bukovinac, who is currently taking a leave of absence while she is on the campaign trail as she runs against Biden in the presidential election. With her bold tactics and innovation, she gathered and inspired a group of pro-lifers dedicated to achieving socio-political justice for the preborn by mobilizing anti-abortion activists for direct action and opposing elective abortion through a progressive lens. Terrisa’s spirit allowed a young group of leaders to take her vision and blossom it into what PAAU is today. Since our founding, we’ve grown immensely and have had so many amazing opportunities to bring in new leadership, mentor youth activists, and make a real impact on the lives of so many.
As we step into 2024, I am so excited to introduce to you our theme for the year: Building Pro-Life Power. I’d love to break this down for you and explain what this will look like, and it starts with our youth-focused leadership team. Let me introduce you to some of the best people I know.
Kristin Turner (22) is a fiery, California born, progressive anti-abortion activist who specializes in recruitment and training. Her first-hand experiences in the animal rights movement, environmental justice movement, anti-abortion movement, and other leftist causes have prepared her to be a force to reckon with. In the last 6 months, Kristin, Director of Community Organizing, has taken on a new and exciting project called PAAU Affinity. These progressive-led activist collectives, committed to equality, non-violence, and non-discrimination, are taking direct action to end abortion locally and on a state level.
Elise Ketch (27) is the Design Specialist for PAAU and a creative storyteller. She brings her training as an experienced designer and communication artist to the uprising, as well as a passion for direct action fostered in her by other leftist protest movements. Her projects include researching the leftist history of anti-abortion Rescue and translating it into an inspiring legacy for the next generation of Rescuers. In her free time she volunteers for pro-life progressive political candidates as a designer and diplomat, as well as for a group of philosophers who are developing synchronic arguments in favor of fetal personhood as a consultant and illustrator.
Constance Becker (19) is the Executive Coordinator of PAAU. She works from her hometown in Ohio but is better known to many for her scorching appearances on major online media installments including Jubilee’s Middle Ground. Recently a new mom and wife, Constance is a youthful pro-life activist who makes and occupies space as a Black & Indigenous woman and abuse survivor. She is a protest organizer, pro-life speaker, and doula. Constance’s role allows PAAU to function smoothly and excel in areas such as cultural competency, donor relations, administrative work, and more.
Lauren Handy (30) is the Director of Activism and Mutual Aid at PAAU, and is currently serving a jail sentence for a pro-life Rescue in 2020. Behind bars, Lauren counsels abortion-minded and post-abortive people, as well as mentors younger inmates. She has a long history of working with various activist organizations across the country, and her anti-abortion work has taken her to over 100 abortion businesses across 32 states. She has helped over 800 families choose life through her sidewalk counseling efforts. Lauren is committed to non-violent direct action and uses her research-oriented mindset to unveil the most effective ways to end abortion and save lives.
Ephraim Manna (18) is an intern at PAAU this fall. He is a driven young individual who hails from Paterson, New Jersey, where his early exposure to social issues and a strong sense of justice propelled him toward a life dedicated to advocating for the protection of life in all its forms. Ephraim's educational journey has taken him through an array of diverse experiences, from undergraduate studies in theology to volunteer work with various humanitarian organizations. His passion for social justice and his deep-seated belief in the consistent life ethic have shaped his academic and personal pursuits. He advocates for the unborn by sidewalk counseling weekly, protesting pharmacies that sell abortion pills, and spreading the consistent life ethic to those he connects with.
And lastly, I’ll introduce myself. I graduated from Calvin University in 2020, and have been working full-time in the pro-life movement ever since. I am 25 years old, and I am among some of the youngest directors of pro-life organizations in the whole country. This is an honor I don’t take lightly. I am blessed to have at my disposal the mentorship and advice of some of the most influential pro-life leaders like Joan Andrews Bell, Joseph Foreman, and Carol Crossed. I take intergenerational organizing and mentorship very seriously, and we are incredibly lucky at PAAU to have these inspiring people to look up to and take advice from. By having these icons to look up to, I feel confident in our Gen Z leadership to take their work and instruction and turn it into something new, unique, and beautiful for the next generation of pro-life activists.
Training and Mentoring the Rising Generation
At PAAU, we are uniquely situated to train and mentor the rising generation of youth activists into strong and effective leaders. Something unique about PAAU is that our activists almost always remain working within the movement, and move into leadership roles instead of using pro-life work as a jumping off point to work in other movements or jobs. Recently, our activist Melanie Salazar started as the Executive Director of Pro-life San Francisco after spending time learning with PAAU. Our young leaders are trained and mentored to be in a position to actually build power and drive culture. I’d like you to get to know some of those leaders and what they’ve learned from PAAU over the past year! You can find photos and stories from them on page 9. I encourage you to read their stories and hear what these young pro-lifers have to say about their time with PAAU.
Speaking of the past year, I want to give you a quick recap of what 2023 looked like for PAAU. I’d love to highlight a few of the many projects we undertook and what the outcome was for us, the movement, and the babies. This is just a sampling of the impact we had and the creative responses we built to some of the real problems we faced as a movement last year. After reading about these projects and campaigns, I hope you are able to see the importance of our young and innovative leaders to the current pro-life movement.
Successes from 2023
Stop Abortion Rx
In February, we launched the #StopAbortionRx campaign alongside the Pro-life Action League in response to major pharmacies announcing their intent to dispense abortion pills. We had an extremely successful Day of Action that included partnering with dozens of pro-life organizations, holding around 70 protests across the country, and educating thousands about the dangers of the abortion pills. Next, our eyes are looking towards SCOTUS this spring where the abortion pill debate will continue.
One Year Anniversary of Justice for the Five
In March, PAAU activists from around the country gathered in Washington DC for a Week of Action commemorating the one year anniversary of the discovery of 115 aborted babies by Terrisa and Lauren. We held protests, completed direct actions, lobbied on The Hill, cried and sang together, sidewalk counseled as a team, held a symbolic memorial service for the babies, visited the Medical Examiner where they are being held, and much more. This week created a space for mourning and motivated our activists to take more action to getting #JusticefortheFive.
Rescues and Direct Action
PAAU has its roots in Abortion Rescue and Direct Action, and this year was no exception. Actions this year included more than 10 Rescues across the country, as well as 10 activists who got arrested for civil disobedience on multiple occasions. We know from studying past social justice movements that taking direct action is critical to achieving victory, and PAAU is filling that need in our movement today unlike any other group out there. In addition, we launched the very first comprehensive secular defense of Rescue to ever exist. You can read it on our website at paaunow.org/rescue!
#PAAUonTrial
In August, we experienced one of the most important things PAAU might ever do: the trial of the 9 pro-life Rescuers who tried to save babies at the Washington Surgi-Center in 2020. Through this unjust trial, we experienced discrimination like we’ve never seen before, both against our Rescuers and against the babies. In light of this, the inevitable guilty verdict was delivered, which comes with a potential 11 year prison sentence for each defendant, some of whom are in their mid-70s. With unity through diversity, the Rescue continues in court and in jail as the Rescuers hold space as a witness for the babies and a voice against the horrors of late-term abortion.
Repeal FACE Bill
Although you often see PAAU protesting on the streets, we can also be found going from office to office on The Hill in DC. We have improved our lobbying efforts this year, and have thankfully been seeing the fruit of our labor. These concentrated efforts resulted in the introduction of a bill to repeal the FACE Act both in the House and in the Senate. PAAU has been working tirelessly to get this bill introduced all year and seeing our efforts come to fruition was priceless. We were there to first tell Representatives about the FACE Act (the draconian law that makes it a federal crime to try and save babies by peacefully entering abortion facilities) all the way up to holding meetings to ask Representatives to join the bill as a co-signer just days before it was introduced. We see the immense value of being experts both on the streets in protest and on The Hill as lobbyists, and we are training all our activists to be multifaceted in this critical way.
Pitney Protests
Over the summer, PAAU activists exposed owner and founder of "Forward Midwifery" Christie Pitney and her Washington DC office for trafficking abortion pills all across the country. This campaign inspired Teens for Life to do a digital activism campaign while we held in person protests steadily throughout the summer. We see the value of holding these localized and targeted campaigns against specific pillars of power in the abortion industry. In this case, mail order abortion pills being sent from an online office in our nation’s capital.
Walgreens Challenge
In February of 2023 PAAU launched StopAbortionRX, our first ever national activism campaign. The impact it had didn't end after the first protest… PAAU made a call to action for people to continue protesting inside of their local Walgreens. Young activists, and groups across the country participated, including Pro-Life San Francisco, who coordinated what they called the “Walgreens Circuit” which included 49 Walgreens protests in one day!
Dobbs Day
On June 24th, PAAU held a historical event outside the Supreme Court. “World Beyond Roe” included a music performance, an art display, two teach-ins, and more to celebrate the anniversary of the fall of Roe vs. Wade! This event brought in activists from across the country and was the perfect way to celebrate this momentous occasion and look forward to the next steps in achieving preborn liberation. PAAU was the only group to hold space outside the Supreme Court for the entire anniversary day, meaning we did not give up ground to the pro-abortion activists that often hold that space on important days like this.
Art Call
At PAAU, we believe in radical hope which grounds our activism in pursuing a better world - even if it is hard to imagine what that might look like. Art helps us work to create a “Vision of Tomorrow”, that is, a vision of what could be. In the Spring of 2023, PAAU did our very first Art Call asking people to imagine what a world without abortion looks like to them. We had dozens of submissions and displayed them proudly at our Dobbs Day Anniversary celebration to encourage others to dream of what their world beyond abortion could be.
PAAU Activist Apartment
Fostering community is one of PAAU’s most important values. We are committed to building pro-life spaces and communities all across the globe, and this year, that started in DC. We started our first ever Activist Apartment in the NoMa neighborhood where four of our full-time staff members were housed this year. On a practical level, this has allowed for more activism in DC, as well as consistent sidewalk counseling efforts at the DC Planned Parenthood just a 10 minute walk from the apartment. On a deeper level, the community and trust that this space has fostered within the PAAU team has been priceless. Living and working together allows us to dedicate ourselves fully to each other and to the unborn. We are so thankful for those who made this space possible.
Organizer meetings and trainings
We have a diverse network of young organizers who are spread all across the country, and although we are able to all gather in one space a few times a year, it is so special to be able to get together online on a regular basis. This year, we have held many trainings and social events over Zoom with our organizers. We have met to write letters for Rescuers behind bars, heard a training from Caroline about personal fundraising, learned about Culture Jamming strategies from Elise and Kristin, and much more. These community-focused evenings have proven to be an invaluable aspect of growing our team of young activists and advocating for the unborn together.
Repro Share Fair
Our Repro Share Fair is an event where we set up a table and give out free material aid and information to passers by. These free items included diapers, baby clothing, bibs, socks, wash clothes, bandaids, toothbrushes, period products, pregnancy tests, and more. This event is the cross mobilization of care and protest in our communities. It is based on the question: how do we not just survive but extend love and care, and also have joy in that survival? We hope you’ll consider doing a Share Fair in your community this upcoming year.
Art and Music
Art and music are integral parts of social justice movements. Through our music, we connect with people in a way that isn’t possible through speech, with joy, sadness, and storytelling. With art, we can communicate special imaginative experiences and dream about the future we are building together. In 2024, we plan to hold another Art Call in the spring!
Looking Forward to 2024
I am looking to raise $41,000 by December 31st to fund our projects and activism in 2024. To be transparent, I have included the items and projects we are raising money for, along with the amount we are hoping to invest in each one from the funds raised by this letter. So what does building pro-life power in 2024 look like practically? I am really excited to tell you about the projects and campaigns we have coming up this year. Please take a moment to read through these short descriptions of what we have planned for 2024 as we continue on the road towards liberation for the unborn.
Activist House
Amount needed: $2,000
Last month, we moved into a 3 story house in the Edgewood neighborhood of DC. This is an exciting expansion of our hub for activism and community building. This will be a practice space for youth-led liberation, a hub for radical imagination and organizing rooted in movement history. The goal for this house is to create spaces that are generative and instructive.
PAAU Affinity
Amount needed: $4,800
Why do we keep seeing devastating losses in state level ballot initiatives in places like California, Michigan, and Ohio? Why do we see pro-life pregnancy centers being attacked physically and politically? It’s not because a majority hold the belief that we should have unrestricted access to abortion at any time. Or that there shouldn’t be resource centers for pregnant and parenting people. It’s because the pro-life movement has failed to build meaningful communities and spaces for people to safely be pro-life and to actually take action! PAAU Affinity Groups are progressive led activist collectives, committed to equality, non-violence, and non-discrimination, who are taking direct action to end abortion locally and on a state level. This campaign is launching in January of 2024, and will allow us to build pro-life power in ways and places our movement never has before!
Weeks of Action
Amount needed: $6,000
Holding week-long activism trips has been core to PAAU since its inception. This year, we want to hold more Weeks of Action than ever before! Starting at the March for Life, we will be hosting 4 Weeks of Action throughout the year where we welcome 10-20 activists into DC for an intensive-style week of action, protest, lobbying, training, direct action, community building, and more!
Summer Intern
Amount needed: $5,000
For the first time ever, PAAU will be bringing on summer interns in Washington DC! We will be providing housing and a stipend for young activists who want to live and work in DC and learn about leadership, direct action, protest, and more.
Marketing and Outreach Materials
Amount needed: $2,200
It's time to revamp and reorder! We have new and improved marketing materials and outreach supplies including brand new education boards that we will use for street outreach events. Sidewalk literature, stickers, buttons, pamphlets, flyers, signs, and banners all are critical to our activism and outreach efforts, and we are excited for our new designs coming this year.
March for Life
Amount needed: $3,000
Every January, people from across the world gather in Washington, DC, to defy the passing of Roe vs. Wade. Since PAAU’s founding, we have used this week as an opportunity to recruit and build community with our supporters and activists. This year, we will be holding our launch party for PAAU Affinity, and we will be bringing in our staff and organizers from all across the country to stay at the NEW PAAU Activist House. We also have the opportunity to set up a booth at the March for Life Expo and the Cardinal O’Connor Conference in order to spread our message and recruit new activists for our cause!
New PAAU Support Staff
Amount needed: $18,000
We have grown exponentially over the past 2 years, and as we grow, so do our administrative needs. This year, it is imperative that we hire staff to support the organization in areas like finances, website development, donor relations, and administrative needs. We hope to have these part-time staff members including moms and parents in need of a part-time and work-from-home job to further our pro-life mission in as many ways as possible. We see these positions as a sustainable and important way to bring in new staff members to further build up the pro-life movement, its effectiveness, and its impact.
As I’m sure you can see, it's critical to raise this $41,000 to launch us into 2024 strong and prepared for action. The truth is, we are facing an uphill battle. We’ve been losing state ballot initiatives, we’ve seen Gen Z become radically pro-abortion, we’ve seen the media turning against Pregnancy Resource Centers post Dobbs, and even the Federal Government serveiling and imprisoning peaceful pro-life activists… but I suggest that you let this radicalize you, not lead you to despair. PAAU’s response to our unrelenting struggle is to influence and shape culture, build pro-life power, and be an unyielding presence on the sidewalk, on the streets, and on The Hill.
My vision of tomorrow is this: to foster and encourage a strong community of young, brave activists with a desire to end abortion through meaningful strategies. To bring back the spirit of the Rescue Movement by pushing boundaries, radically loving the unborn, and looking with hope towards the future.
This upcoming year will bring challenges and hardship, but I also know that it will bring life and joy even in this world that is determined to murder the most vulnerable. I am confident that we can reach our goals, we will get Justice for the Five, we will repeal the FACE Act, we will Rescue preborn children, and we will build pro-life power – together.
I am honored to ask you today to partner with PAAU on this mission to preborn justice. At PAAU, we have no shame in asking for help. We see it as an opportunity to invite you into our mission as we make real and tangible steps towards ending abortion. So today I am asking you for help. Will you support us today to make this upcoming year our best one yet?
I am confident we can reach our goals this year, but we can’t reach them without your help. Please give a gift today to help us reach our $41,000 goal by December 31st.
Please return the enclosed envelope with your gift today, or if you would like, you can scan the QR code here, visit www.donorbox.org/paau-donate, or text “PAAU” to 801801.
The unborn can’t wait. We need preborn justice NOW. And we need you to come with us.
For life, peace, and justice,
Caroline Smith
PAAU Executive Director
