How one 'mustard seed' is moving the pro-life message from Waco to the world

In October of 2024, on the shoulders of the legendary local activist group Pro-Life Waco, a new nationwide organization was launched with a mission to engage the largely neglected "mushy middle" — people in communities who may not often even think about the issue of abortion.

Key Takeaways:

• Pro-Life in the Public Square (PLPS), led by Pro-Life Waco founder John Pisciotta, is celebrating a productive year of expansive outreach, with hopes to do even greater things moving forward.

• PLPS stands on the shoulders of local group Pro-Life Waco; without the foundation established by Pro-Life Waco, PLPS would not exist.

• PLPS has three different awareness campaigns which anyone can utilize in their own communities: Pro-Life Yard Signs Across America, Pharmacy Outreach, and Billboards at the Edge of Town.

The Backstory:

John Pisciotta went from being a pro-life "fan" to an activist in 1994, when pro-life preachers Rusty Thomas and Flip Benham came to Waco to lead rallies and protests at the newly-opened Planned Parenthood abortion business in town.

Pisciotta, then an economics professor at Baylor University, told Live Action News that he "debated whether to attend or not," but then "the Holy Spirit nudged me to show up." Thomas' and Benham's words about the horrors of abortion changed the course of Pisciotta's life.

"I decided that day, fighting abortion would become a part of my life. From a small mustard seed, Pro-Life Waco grew over three decades to be a diverse and unflinching community action organization," he said.

Turning Planned Parenthood RADIOACTIVE w/ John Pisciotta

Pisciotta recalled to Live Action News, "From the outset, Pro-Life Waco had a prime focus on public square outreach," protesting with 50+ people against Planned Parenthood's annual 'Nobody's Fool' sex-ed event for children in 5th-9th grade. Protesters "encourag[ed] parents to take their children in the opposite direction from Planned Parenthood." 

But the group Pisciotta founded didn't stop there.

"The local Girl Scout Council was one of the many 'Nobody's Fool' sponsors," he said. "That led to the 2004 Girl Scout Cookie Boycott. That led to numerous media interviews, including the Today Show and 700 Club. After three weeks of intense media controversy, the Girl Scout Bluebonnet Council severed all ties to Planned Parenthood Waco." 

Building on this success, the group later became known for its overpass outreaches, years-long grassroots protests against Bank of America (for funding Planned Parenthood), and more.

Pisciotta previously told Live Action, "I want our neighbors to know that they have neighbors that care deeply about the shedding of innocent blood. I don’t want anyone to live in Waco for 10 days without seeing the pro-life challenge in our city.”

Building on decades of experience and activism

Pisciotta told Live Action News that Pro-Life Waco is active, and currently "has a cycle of five monthly community outreach events in the streets," including "two pharmacy protests at CVS and Walgreens, Life Chain, pedestrian overpass outreach, and It's a Baby Waco" near the Planned Parenthood (which is not providing abortions).

The group has "also displayed a dozen billboards and hundreds of yard signs across our city and county," and even has a pro-life billboard truck named "Carolyn" (after the late Carolyn Knowles, who filed suit over a city ordinance preventing pro-life sidewalk counseling in Waco and eventually won the case in 2006).

But the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization Supreme Court decision handed down in June of 2022, overturning Roe v. Wade, changed the landscape of the pro-life fight.

By March of 2023, Pro-Life Waco had begun "monthly and later bi-monthly protests of Waco CVS and Walgreens," in response to the Biden administration's decision to allow pharmacy distribution of the abortion pill. Pisciotta said, "We expected and encouraged pro-life groups in other cities to go out on the sidewalk of CVS and Walgreens once each month."

But this effort, he said, "generated only modest response."

The Dobbs decision should have been a celebration of pro-life victory, but for Pisciotta, it quickly grew into an expanded mission: Pro-Life in the Public Square.

The Details:

Pisciotta described the Dobbs decision's aftermath in a message about Pro-Life in the Public Square's one year of outreach, saying, "Despite our joy over the end of Roe, harmful setbacks soon followed."

He noted several events that occurred after the reversal of Roe: increasing numbers of chemical abortions, the sale of abortion pills at pharmacies like CVS and Walgreens "in over twenty states" since signing on in March 2024, pro-life losses on 14 of 17 state ballots, and unfortunately no evidence that abortions were declining nationally.

Pisciotta told Live Action News that these developments caused an awakening. "My perspective was that the losses [on state ballots] showed serious weaknesses in the pro-life movement."

Pisciotta also realized that "The pro-life movement has not adequately influenced the vast, undecided, and unaware midsection of our communities and the electorate." While launching something national had never been part of Pro-Life Waco's plan, it seems God had other plans.

In July of 2024, the decision was made to create Pro-Life in the Public Square, to extend well beyond the boundaries of Waco, Texas. The organization with a nationwide mission launched in October of that year.  

While Pro-Life Waco remains an active local organization, for the past year, Pro-Life in the Public Square has been "engaged indirectly nationwide through encouragement and financial support for other pro-life groups," said Pisciotta. "PLPS may be the only pro-life organization that exists for the sole purpose of helping other pro-life organizations."

Both groups, however, "are centered on broad community awareness and working 'upstream' for conversion. We must engage throughout the football field, not just in the 'red zone,'" Pisciotta added.

The Strategy:

Pisciotta noted that when PLPS launched in 2024, it began its efforts with three different awareness initiatives in which anyone can participate — from pro-life groups, to churches, to individuals:

• Pro-Life Yard Signs Across America - Yard signs are a low-cost and powerful way to influence the full spectrum of the public square. We provide yard signs for $4. 

• Pharmacy Outreach “Quick Start Packs” - The free starter pack is 10 signs and 100 chemical abortion flyers. 

• Billboards at the Edge of Town - A small or mid-size city with regional highways running through town has an outstanding billboard opportunity.  

Pisciotta told Live Action News:

"Our main strategy... is to provide free or heavily subsidized signs for use in public square outreach. My background as an economist taught me that if you want more of something to happen, it will help to provide financial subsidies. 

For pharmacy outreach, we will provide a set of 10 signs to any group that will engage in outreach at CVS or Walgreens at least four times in a year. For Pro-Life Yard Signs Across America, we sell outstanding yard signs for $4 each."

Though all of these initiatives have been worthwhile, Pisciotta wrote that one of them has seen the most momentum:

The key breakthrough came in mid-2025. Pro-Life Yard Signs Across America promotions generated increasing participation from grassroots activists. From August through October, yard signs distributed rose from 200 to 1,200 — with substantial  enthusiasm from 16 states.

Yard Signs Across America will be the solid backbone of PLPS as we expand. Our growth opportunities in all fifty states are clearly substantial. 

As our first year ends, we are grateful for our transformation from idea to start-up and now look forward to becoming a major national contributor to the pro-life movement by encouraging and supporting public square outreach across America.

"Pro-Life in the Public Square is rising up on the foundation of Pro-Life Waco and would have no credibility without Pro-Life Waco," Pisciotta told Live Action News. "We use our experience... as our foundation to help other groups deliver effective, no-hassle public square outreach."

And, he added, there are pro-life groups that deliver public square outreach as part of their mission, such as Right to Life county chapters in numerous states:

“Moreover, some state and national organizations assist local groups in public square outreach. These include Pro-Life Action League, Life Chain, Students for Life of America, 40 Days for Life, and state-level Right to Life organizations. There's plenty of work for all to do to build more robust public square outreach!"

What makes PLPS different, says Pisciotta, is that "[h]elping other pro-life groups is the ONLY mission of PLPS."

The Bottom Line:

In agreement with Abraham Lincoln, Pisciotta often quotes the former president's statement made during the Lincoln-Douglas debates:

"In this country, public sentiment is everything. With it, nothing can fail. Against it, nothing can succeed. Whoever molds public sentiment goes deeper, lasts longer than he who enacts laws or pronounces judicial decisions."

Sadly, 50 years of legalized abortion in America has largely shaped an entire generation of public sentiment, and this won't be undone overnight.

But Pisciotta has seen the decades-long impact of what community activism can do, and he and other dedicated activists have no plans to stop anytime soon.

"[L]ocal public square outreach is very important for our overall movement. No matter what each one of us is doing in the pro-life vineyard, I want us to consider how we might have more impact on the mushy middle," he said. "Pro-Life in the Public Square will continue to evangelize on the importance of strengthening the public square outreach branch of the pro-life tree."

Go Deeper:

Learn more about Pro-Life in the Public Square on the group's website and Facebook group, and get information on how you can get involved at the links below: 

• Pro-Life Yard Signs Across America

• Quick Start Pack for Pharmacy Outreach

• Billboards at the Edge of Town

• E-mail prolifewaco@gmail.com or call 254-644-0407