Washington pro-life group buys house across from Planned Parenthood to minister to women

A pro-life organization in Bremerton, Washington, has found a unique solution to countering the work of their county’s only abortion facility: they’ve purchased a property directly across the street.

Kitsap Daily News reports that the Western Washington Coalition for Life has purchased a building that sits across from the city’s Planned Parenthood abortion facility.

“We had looked at this house across from Planned Parenthood for years and thought that, really, wouldn’t it be nice if we could ever get that house,” Laurie Coykendall, the group’s executive director, told the news outlet. She explained that in 2020, the house went up for sale — an event she called an “answered prayer” — and her organization was able to raise the $200,000 necessary to make the purchase. They now call it The House for Life, and they work in conjunction with 40 Days for Life to hold regular prayer vigils for an hour each day the abortion facility is open.

READ: These three families say ‘thank you’ to pro-life sidewalk counselors

Inside the home, the group offers help and information to women who may feel that abortion is their only choice. “We’re not anti-abortion just because it kills the baby,” Coykendall said, “but we are all for getting life to be the choice rather than the only option being abortion across the street.” To that end, her group provides information about adoption and foster care, so that women can know the options available to them.

Though some claim that adoption shouldn’t be promoted as an alternative to abortion, Coykendale dismisses this idea. “It’s not giving up on this child, but it’s making the decision that I can’t raise this child,” she said. “I want this child to have two loving parents, a mom and a dad, that will raise this child with love.”

Coykendall stressed that the Western Washington Coalition for Life does not exist to pass judgment on anyone, but instead just wants to help. “We’re here to love everybody that comes there,” she said. “We’re here to love the workers, the girls that go in for birth control, the women that are going for abortions, the dads, the grandmas, the friends, and to give them the proof about how abortion is not the only solution.”