Planned Parenthood in Sioux City, Iowa fences out prayers for the unborn and their mothers

John Lillis is a very good man. Educated at Steubenville, immersed in the Catholic faith and as devout and passionate a man as you are ever going to find, he could well have been a priest. He knows his faith that well. But, instead, he chose another vocation--no less important than the priesthood. He chose married life. The father of seven kids, he is a family man who lives his faith every day. But his most admirable quality of all is his passion for life--in all its forms. The former PAC Chairman of the Nebraskans United for Life and long-time pro-life activist, Lillis is an outspoken advocate for the unborn and an unapologetic defender of the faith. Perhaps this is because he himself was adopted. And, God gave him not only a large imposing frame but a golden, articulate voice, affable manner, and persuasive personality that make him the most effective advocate for life that I have ever met. Lillis fills a room with his presence and you always know where he stands. I often refer to him as a force of nature.

I first met John Lillis as a host on Catholic Radio Station KFHC Channel 88.1 in Sioux City, Iowa. He asked me to speak with him on the air about some books I had written in order to raise money for the Carmelite nuns and about my religious articles in Catholic magazines. I was always impressed with his radio voice, his depth of knowledge about religious issues, life issues, politics, and human events, but never more impressed than when I met him in person. He was and is a fabulous interviewer and I just knew that someday, he would be destined for a bigger audience. He is every bit as good on the air as the national commentators on EWTN with nationally syndicated shows and I knew I was in the presence of someone special whenever I talked to him. Clearly God has a special plan for him. I hope it includes a bigger soapbox. But John was not just a great radio presence and interviewer--he is an innovator as well. He developed wonderful feature shows for the station such as Feeding the Flock, in which he interviewed local, national and international religious and political figures about religious and other issues of the day, and the Leaf Eaters Club--in which he featured works of Catholic and other authors as well.

Tuesdays with Mommy

However, John's finest hour and one that has shaken the ranks of the pro-choice [sic--pro death] folks is the first-ever, front-line pro-life radio program Tuesdays with Mommy -- online and worldwide on Abortion Tuesdays in Sioux City. Abortion Tuesday is the day when Planned Parenthood in Sioux City, Iowa conducts its most profitable, if grisly, business of killing babies. Of course they can kid all they want about providing health services such as mammograms to women, but everyone knows that babies' blood is the grease that keeps the machinery of death humming and pays for the lights and heat. And so it is, that on every other Tuesday of the month, Planned Parenthood conducts its surgical death business, processing upwards of a dozen or more in one day. Don't worry though, Planned Parenthood kills everyday by prescribing RU-486 and Plan-B-like drugs which allow the girls to actually kill and pass their offspring at home. Next to Planned Parenthood is Mary's Choice in Sioux City, Iowa--a women's resource center designed to help guide, clothe, support, and counsel women who are pregnant and are confused about which way to go. Mary's Choice was conceived, financed, and built through the efforts of wonderful volunteers and contributors united in their respect for life and devoted to helping mothers and their unborn children. Mary's Choice is the polar opposite of the Death Camp across the street just meters away. Mary's Choice is a place of hope, devotion to the unborn and founded not to take but to preserve life. And it has always been a thorn in the side of Planned Parenthood for that very reason. The mere presence of Mary's Choice is a bane to Planned Parenthood--after all, it is bad for business. And there is a risk that the mere presence of the spirit filled, devout people who pray for those women who enter the death camp might somehow be dissuaded by the prayers of those who watch the young women enter the building--some with friends, some by themselves--all undoubtedly anxious, scared and uncertain as to whether they are doing the right thing. But watching, it seems, is intolerable to Planned Parenthood. They would prefer to work in the dark where no one is watching. Enter Tuesdays with Mommy. John Lillis decided that it would be a wonderful idea to broadcast on Catholic Radio 88.1 from a booth in Mary's Choice across the alley from Planned Parenthood, on Abortion Tuesdays, a simple but poignant program with a simple theme: pray for those women and their unborn babies as they entered Planned Parenthood so that their hearts may be changed. Now, of course, this is all perfectly legal. We still have the right to observe people from public venues, and unless the government attempts to regulate it out of existence, we still have the right to pray. So, put simply, when John and his fellow believers inside the broadcast booth at Mary's Choice observed some women entering Planned Parenthood--obviously pregnant and worried--he and his fellow believers would simply offer a prayer for each such woman, that she might change her mind. They even pray for the staff and the doctors who perform the abortions. Pretty inspiring stuff--and a broadcast which, if you ever heard it, touches your heart. But the idea that anyone might pray for those who enter the premises of Planned Parenthood was apparently too much for those who did their grisly work. For they discovered that John was praying for these women and that was offensive. So they did what the Nazis did during World War 2 at their own death camps--they fenced them in lest people might observe their work. So, Planned Parenthood of Sioux City, Iowa built a fence between their building and Mary's Choice so that Mr. Lillis and his friends could no longer see women walking into the building and pray for them as they do. Profits must be good for Planned Parenthood because it has apparently spent around $100,000 to erect this fence, hide its work and obscure the light of truth cast on them by Tuesdays with Mommy. The newly erected fence is less than five feet from the pro-life resource center and seems to be in direct response to the newly created pro-life program which has invited people to pray for the girls, the clinic workers and the construction workers, in "real-time" for the first time on Catholic radio and perhaps the first time ever. "We believe that this program has already saved lives through the power of prayer, because we have thousands of people praying for real girls, real mothers, just as they pull up to end the lives in their wombs," said Mary's Choice director Dr. Peggy McGinty. According to Sherrill Glassmaker, the director of Mary's Choice Sioux City, when the fence went up, the first thing her 13-year old daughter asked her was: "Isn't this just like the kind of fence that guy in Germany put up [around the Jews], sic, during World War II? It was Germany, right mom?" What an insight from a young person! In fact, the fence does make the Planned Parenthood facility look more like "Auschwitz" than ever. John Lillis notes that business is definitely down:

"On our first broadcast of Tuesdays with Mommy, Siouxland mourned the death of at least fifteen babies and the souls of the mothers and father who participated. The next broadcast of the program saw the mourning of eight unborn babies and their parents. This past Tuesday, October 23^rd, during the "funeral" service at the end of the radio program, we mourned four deaths. One radio show audience member quipped: "God is sure using this new found prayer fount for His greater Glory and the salvation of souls!"

John Lillis relates how this all happened:

"Back in January of 2012, we had a huge pro-life walk and rally sponsoredby the Teen Defenders and attended by several hundred Siouxlanders on a deep, dark and cold afternoon in Sioux City. After the rally, it dawned on me that I had covered the event live on radio and why not bring live, prayer-filled radio to the front lines of the abortion fight? We could really save lives and souls all at the same time!" Everyone agreed and about nine months later (yes, really!) Tuesday's with Mommy was on the air. It took a very long time to find the 'pieces-parts,' electronics, drywall, paint, volunteers, etc., to build the new studio," Lillis said. But he concluded: "Ultimately, our Blessed Lord got what He wanted and a way for thousands of people to worship him and plead with Him to touch souls and save lives. Obviously, we are humbled to be able to help God in this way."

So, John Lillis, this great warrior for the faith and defender of the unborn, my friend, has through his faith and fearless pursuit of those who would kill the most defenseless among us, proved that the Spirit works in wonderful ways for those who believe. John's work is so effective and so inimical to the forces of death that they must construct walls to fence him out. And it proves once again, that the work of the pro death forces in America cannot stand the light of truth. Copyright © 2012 William Kevin Stoos

William Kevin Stoos——Bio and Archives

Copyright © 2020 William Kevin Stoos
William Kevin Stoos (aka Hugh Betcha) is a writer, book reviewer, and attorney, whose feature and cover articles have appeared in the Liguorian, Carmelite Digest, Catholic Digest, Catholic Medical Association Ethics Journal, Nature Conservancy Magazine, Liberty Magazine, Social Justice Review, Wall Street Journal Online and other secular and religious publications.  He is a regular contributing author for The Bread of Life Magazine in Canada. His review of Shadow World, by COL. Robert Chandler, propelled that book to best seller status. His book, The Woodcarver (]And Other Stories of Faith and Inspiration) © 2009, William Kevin Stoos (Strategic Publishing Company)—a collection of feature and cover stories on matters of faith—was released in July of 2009. It can be purchased though many internet booksellers including Amazon, Tower, Barnes and Noble and others. Royalties from his writings go to support the Carmelites. He resides in Wynstone, South Dakota.

“His newest book, The Wind and the Spirit (Stories of Faith and Inspiration)” was released in 2011 with all the author’s royalties go to support the Carmelite sisters.”