In March, a grandmother outside an Illinois abortion facility fought for twin grandchildren she had never met.

Starting September 23, prayer warriors in 682 cities are taking that same fight back to the sidewalk.

And the warning that grandmother gave her daughter shows exactly why the abortion industry dreads these 40 days.

Illinois Grandma Saved Twins From Abortion Outside Granite City Clinic

The facility sits in Granite City, Illinois, just across the river from St. Louis.

It's a late-term abortion business in a state J.B. Pritzker has turned into the abortion capital of the Midwest.

A young woman scheduled for an abortion there was pregnant with twins.

Her mother spotted the 40 Days for Life volunteers praying out front.

She walked over and asked them to pray that her daughter would change her mind.

Then she made her case to her daughter, and she didn't soften it.

According to 40 Days for Life, she told her daughter she "was killing a whole generation of their family."

The daughter canceled the abortion.

Two babies lived.

The next day, the grandmother came back to the sidewalk to thank the people who had prayed.

"The vigil inspired the grandmother to fight for her grandchildren," said Rose, who leads the local vigil.

Nobody shouted.

Nobody blocked a door.

A few people stood on a public sidewalk and prayed, and a grandmother found the courage to speak up.

40 Days for Life Fall 2026 Campaign Runs September 23 to November 1

That's the model 40 Days for Life has run since 2004, when a small group began praying outside the Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas.

In 2009, that facility's director, Abby Johnson, watched an abortion on an ultrasound screen, quit, and joined the people praying on the sidewalk.

The Bryan Planned Parenthood closed for good on August 1, 2013.

Since 2007, the group reports 26,714 babies saved, 187 abortion facilities closed, and 279 abortion workers who walked away from the industry.

In Kalamazoo, Michigan, volunteers kicked off their 19th campaign with a candlelight vigil that turned into a rainout.

"As has happened more times than not, the weather didn't cooperate," said Joe, the campaign's co-leader.

The candles never got lit, but the prayers went up anyway, and passing drivers honked their support.

"They can celebrate abortion all they want, but if enough women choose life, then the abortion facilities will close," 40 Days for Life CEO Shawn Carney has said.

Trump Pardoned Paulette Harlow After Biden's FACE Act Prosecution

Local leaders from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Canada spent part of their Seattle training session on a legal briefing.

There's a reason for that.

Under Joe Biden, the Justice Department used the FACE Act to put pro-lifers behind bars.

Paulette Harlow was 75 years old, with serious health problems, when she was sentenced to two years in federal prison for a 2020 sit-in inside a Washington, D.C., abortion facility.

On January 23, 2025, President Trump pardoned her along with 22 other pro-life Americans.

At the National Prayer Breakfast that February, Trump singled her out and said, "What happened to you must never, ever happen again in America."

In April 2026, the Justice Department released a report after reviewing more than 700,000 internal records, and what it found was ugly.

Biden-era prosecutors worked with Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, and the Feminist Majority Foundation to pick their targets.

They withheld evidence and tried to keep jurors off cases because of their religion.

Pro-life defendants got an average of 26.8 months behind bars, while pro-abortion defendants got 12.3.

"This Department will not tolerate a two-tiered system of justice," said Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The department now limits new FACE Act civil cases to extraordinary circumstances.

Sidewalk Prayer Vigils Near You Are Saving Babies One Family at a Time

Pro-abortion activists love to paint sidewalk prayer as harassment.

Tell that to the twins in Granite City.

Tell it to their grandmother, who saw a few strangers praying and found the words that saved two lives.

For four years, Biden's DOJ made ordinary grandparents afraid to stand outside these facilities.

This fall, they're back on the sidewalk, and this Justice Department isn't hunting them.

Joining is as simple as finding your local vigil at 40daysforlife.com/locations and signing up.

Every one of those 26,714 babies started with someone willing to stand in the rain and pray.

Sources:

• Shawn Carney, "40 Days for Life Campaign Begins in 682 Cities to Save Babies From Abortion," LifeNews, September 23, 2026.
• Shawn Carney, "Two Babies Saved From Abortion as Grandma Helps Her Daughter Choose Life," LifeNews, March 25, 2026.
• Michael Foust, "40 Days for Life celebrates milestone: 25,000 babies saved from abortion," Pregnancy Help News, January 9, 2025.
• Bonnie Pritchett, "Closing of Bryan-College Station abortion clinic celebrated," Southern Baptist TEXAN, September 12, 2013.
• Steven Ertelt, "President Trump Honors Pro-Life Grandma Paulette Harlow, Who He Freed From Prison," LifeNews, February 6, 2025.
• U.S. Department of Justice, "Justice Department Reveals the Biden Administration's Weaponization of Federal Law Against Pro-Life Americans," April 14, 2026.
• 40 Days for Life, "40 Days for Life," 40daysforlife.com, September 2026.