Helias Catholic grad leads sidewalk advocacy group in California

Lives are being saved. That’s why we do it. We’ve seen it work many times.”

Brianna Wieberg, regional program manager of Sidewalk Advocates for Life (SAFL) for the state of California

One needn’t be religious to oppose abortion on human-rights grounds, but Brianna Wieberg’s passion for life is fueled by her faith.

“God is the reason we do what we do,” said Miss Wieberg, a 2018 graduate of Helias Catholic High School in Jefferson City and the current regional program manager for Sidewalk Advocates for Life (SAFL) for the state of California.

“I don’t think anyone could do this without God’s help,” she stated. “The Holy Spirit gives us the words. He pushes us to go to the sidewalk when we don’t want to. He protects us when we’re out there, because it can get hostile.”

Sidewalk Advocates for Life (sidewalkadvocates.org) is a Christian not-for-profit organization that trains, equips and supports communities in offering loving, life-affirming alternatives, to everyone present at abortion and abortion-referral facilities.

“We do this because it is possible to change hearts and minds,” said Miss Wieberg. “And even with just a little bit of effort, a little bit of love, a little bit of support, lives can be saved.”

While in college, Miss Wieberg found that many of her classmates, especially her sorority sisters, had a skewed and uninformed position on abortion.

“It was very apparent they had never heard a different opinion or side to pro-life issues,” she recalled.

She started thinking, “How could they not know the truth of abortion?”

She started to realize that she was being called to share the truth with them.

She became passionate about helping them understand.

“I saw how communicating through open conversation was benefiting them,” she recalled.

Several girls started coming to her with questions, and she’d do her best to answer them.

A few were considering abortion. She and some friends would ask if they’d considered all their options, and assured them of support.

“I wound up gaining a lot of pro-life friends and losing a lot of friends who were not pro-life,” she said.

“Some of them, by the time I graduated, had a more pro-life view, which was always my goal,” she said.

Miss Wieberg felt God calling her to do pro-life work.

Right before graduating, she found out about an opening for a media coordinator at the Vitae Foundation.

Headquartered in Jefferson City, the Vitae Foundation (vitaefoundation.org) is a national non-profit that facilitates research to create messaging strategies to help make abortion unthinkable.

“It was a perfect position for me,” said Ms. Wieberg. “God was calling me to it.”

Vitae has been conducting intensive research for decades into the mindset of women of all ages and demographic sets at the moment they are most likely to seek abortion.

Using that research, Vitae helps those women find the help they need, quickly and close to home.

“Reading all the research that Vitae Foundation has done — that set me on fire even more,” she said. “It helped me see into the mind of a woman who’s considering abortion.”

She felt increasingly drawn to the front lines and to work on the issue in a more hands-on manner.

While attending a weeklong intensive seminar at the University of Notre Dame for young adults in the pro-life movement, she learned a lot about Sidewalk Advocates for Life.

She had heard of the organization because they use research from Vitae in their training sessions.

They informed her of the need for a metro coordinator in California.

The idea of helping women and their pre-born babies in the nation’s second-largest abortion destination state appealed to her.

“I never expected to move to California, of all places,” she said. “But, I was very interested and wound up applying for and getting the position.

“It was very apparent that God was calling me there,” she said.

With that, she packed up and moved to Ontario, California, near Los Angeles.

Where to begin

As metro coordinator, she first had to identify 10 abortion facilities in the Los Angeles area that didn’t have a sidewalk advocacy presence.

“My job was to observe those facilities, get to know the people working the sidewalks with groups like 40 Days for Life, who are fantastic partners, and start working with them,” she said.

She’d connect with local pregnancy help centers and churches and anyone else in the community who wanted to help.

“That’s really great for getting everyone involved in the mission,” she said, “which is one of the reasons I love it so much.”

She set about signing people up for and leading an intensive, five-hour training “that goes into everything you need to know about sidewalk advocacy.”

She’d then help set up sidewalk advocacy teams.

“We’d shadow them on the sidewalk and give them resources and literature and everything they’d need,” she said.

She’d appoint leaders for each team and help them keep the momentum going.

“We’d go to the sidewalk as a team, weekly and whenever else anyone could come out,” she said. “In one year, we had over 100 people trained, which was amazing.”

Saving lives

A year after moving to California, Miss Wieberg was promoted to California regional program manager for SAFL.

“In this position, I manage all the teams in California — not just those 10, but all of them,” she said.

“I serve as their overseer and make sure they have everything they need,” she said.

“I make sure the sidewalk presence is still going,” she stated. “Making sure they’re feeling encouraged is the main thing.”

Sidewalk advocacy is challenging and sometimes exhausting work.

“You encounter lots of people yelling at you, honking at you,” she noted.

Like most of the country, California is very divided on the pro-life issue.

“There are a lot of pro-life people in California, but also a lot of not-pro-life people,” said Miss Wieberg.

Many who are pro-life are afraid to speak up.

“Sidewalk advocacy is a good way to put your convictions into meaningful action,” she said.

Everyone involved gets discouraged at some time or another “and needs to be re-encouraged,” she noted.

But seeing a mother cancel her abortion appointment and go for help at a pregnancy resource center makes it all very worthwhile.

“It’s very encouraging and you definitely know you’ve made an impact,” she said.

“Lives are being saved,” she stated. “That’s why we do it. We’ve seen it work many times.”

Many of the advocates have experienced the pain of abortion or have loved ones who have had abortions.

“Now, they’re on the sidewalk, trying to support these women when they didn’t have someone out there to support them,” said Miss Wieberg.

She pointed out that about 70 percent of abortion appointments get cancelled when there are people praying and advocating on the sidewalk.

Men are also affected.

“We see a lot of them in the parking lot,” said Miss Wieberg. “They’re struggling, they’re pacing back in forth, they’re in distress about what’s going on and they don’t know what to do.”

Often, after meeting with advocates on the sidewalk, a man will tell a woman, “We don’t have to do this. They have resources. They can help us,” and the abortion gets called off.

“They just need one person out there to help change their mind, and they’re ready to consider keeping the baby or consider adoption,” said Miss Wieberg.

Abortion clinic workers also see a way out.

“We advocate for them,” she said. “We’ve had 102 abortion workers leave their positions.”

Always a Crusader

Miss Wieberg said she brought a lot of her home state, Helias Catholic High School and her hometown Catholic upbringing with her.

“I think of how my parents raised me, about being Catholic, about being from Missouri — all of that has helped me do this,” she said.

“Helias empowered me to be open about my faith, to want to share it with others, to be very proud of where I come from,” she said.

“Once you graduate, you’re always a Crusader, and you’re expected to go out and live your faith,” she said. “I feel that’s what I’m doing.”

She often encounters people who are discouraged about making little headway in a culture where abortion is considered the default reaction to an unintended pregnancy.

“I always tell people that I know God brought me to California to do this, and if he brought me here, it’s possible for change, which means we can do something,” said Miss Wieberg.

Each SAFL advocate brings different strengths, gifts and stories to the sidewalk.

“God uses all of that for good,” said Mrs. Wieberg. “Even women who have had abortions — they really feel uplifted when they can help someone avoid what they went through.”

Prayer is a key aspect of sidewalk advocacy, and greater unity among Christians is one of the results.

“We’ve been working very hard to unite people in this pro-life mission who don’t see eye-to-eye on other matters of faith,” said Miss Wieberg.

She has encountered hostility toward her own Catholic faith.

“I’ve been a put in a position to share the truth with people about Catholicism,” she said. “It’s surprising how much people don’t know much about it, so helping them understand Catholicism even a little bit better is a huge win.”

Never lose hope

To anyone considering abortion, Miss Wieberg emphasized that the baby is here for a reason.

“It makes perfect sense that you feel the way you do,” she noted. “But, God has given you that child, and he wouldn’t give you something you can’t handle.”

Financial and relationship issues can be dealt with, and help is readily available.

“There’s always hope,” she said. “You’re not alone, and there are people who understand what you’re going through and want to help.”

She noted that the passage of Amendment 3 in Missouri will likely bring elective abortions back to the state, along with an increased need for sidewalk advocacy.

“If people want to get involved, we do have teams in Missouri,” she said.

“We need people on the sidewalks outside abortion facilities. We’ll need people who have had the training, who know where to send people in need of help,” she stated.

She asked for prayers to keep doing the work she must do.

“Pray for all the teams out there, that they feel confident, that they’re protected, that they have the right words to say to people on the sidewalk,” she requested.

“And, please pray for the clients and the workers at the abortion facilities,” she continued, “that they encounter God, that their eyes and ears are open to us on the sidewalk and also to God, and that they have an awakening that they do have a choice, that they don’t have to stay there, that they feel called and supported to leave.

“And, I would ask for prayers for anyone considering getting an abortion, that they feel in their heart that that isn’t the right decision, and they really consider other options,” she said.