Bikers Unite on Behalf of the Unborn

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It was kickstands up at 6:45 a.m.

Thirty minutes later, nine motorcyclists rumbled through lower Manhattan, parked their bikes in an orderly, single file outside the Margaret Sanger Planned Parenthood Center and began their monthly, daylong ritual of prayerfully protesting abortion.

As is customary the first Saturday of the month, members of the Pro Bikers for Life first walked a few blocks from the abortion clinic to the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral. There they joined other pro-life advocates for the monthly Mass for Unborn Children sponsored by the Helpers of God’s Precious Infants, at 8 a.m., followed by Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament until 10:15 a.m.

While some of the faithful remain in the church after Mass for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, others, including the bikers, take to the street, on foot, in procession to pray for the unborn.

From Old St. Patrick’s, located on the corner of Prince and Mott Streets, they cross Houston Street and continue in procession to the block of 26 Bleecker St., the site of Margaret Sanger Planned Parenthood.

While the majority of the procession’s participants continue their prayers as a group, standing side by side across the street from the abortion clinic, one or two of the bikers serve as sidewalk counselors. Even the bikers’ motorcycles, while remaining stationary nearby, are essential witnesses for life, as some have depictions of unborn babies etched in their chrome.

“We really hate coming here, but once we’re here, the love just takes that over,” said biker Michael R. Drozdick, 61. “We really dread, a lot of times, having to walk out there because it really is an evil aura. If you’re not spiritually prepared for it, it can really drain you. It spiritually beats you up, especially if you’re counseling.”

But if one life can be saved, the angst is well worth their time, the bikers say.
Outside the clinic, the biker sidewalk counselors await the opportunity to compassionately speak with any number of young women who may be headed to the clinic to procure an abortion that day.

The bikers’ ultimate goal is to convince the women not to cast the life-ending choice for the baby in the womb nor the life-changing choice for her, the mother.

On May 2, biker Lou Fielack, 55, was among those to whom that duty was assigned. As the sun shone upon him and the other prayerful protesters, Fielack demonstrated his love for life, both born and unborn, through a gentle demeanor and non-threatening discussion with a number of women, some of whom were accompanied by men and children.

Another biker distributed pro-life reading material to women emerging from a nearby subway stop. Without directly asking them where they were headed, the biker suggested that if they were on their way to Planned to Parenthood, they might want to read, en route, what he was distributing.

The bustling city, although quieter on a Saturday morning than a weekday, provides an appropriate backdrop to defend the unborn, for whom any measure of time is a commodity. Taxis, trucks and bicyclists race past towering brick buildings as pedestrians stroll sidewalks with a cell phone in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. Some people leisurely walk dogs while others soak up the solitude in a lengthy run.

The bikers exercise care, in addition to caution, to all they approach and, in some cases, to those who approach them.

Such tactics proved useful that first Saturday in May when an angry young man approached the prayerful protesters and shouted that their attention would be better directed toward the city’s countless needy children and homeless rather than on those about to be aborted.

The man’s commotion caused startled young children who had been reverently praying alongside a parent to cover their ears. As the bikers and the parent listened to and reasoned with the man, other pro-lifers ramped up the volume of their prayers while another advocate for life attempted to soothe the situation through the strings of a violin.

The parent was Susan Johnson, 47, mother of six. She accompanied her four youngest children: Mary, 16; Joseph, 14; Teresa, 11, and John Paul, 8.

Mrs. Johnson said she believes it is critical to bring Christ’s presence “into this place where He’s so needed and He’s so not loved.” She said the man’s anger likely reinforced to her children to “have that spirit of courage” in professing their Catholic faith.

That situation was in vast contrast to the pleasant affirmation made by another man who smiled at the prayerful protesters as he pedaled past them on a Citi Bike.

There has also been representation at the monthly witness for life in lower Manhattan from St. Joseph’s Seminary in Dunwoodie. Among them on May 2 was José Arroyo, 30, who this fall will be a third-year theologian studying for the archdiocese. His home parish is St. Elizabeth’s in Washington Heights.

“The experience is almost like being at Calvary,” Arroyo said of praying outside the abortion clinic. “It is a very difficult place. But we look at it in the light of Easter. We know that Christ has the victory. We just offer God’s mercy.
“We pray that they don’t enter” the abortion clinic, he said, “and if they do enter, we pray for mercy.”

Arroyo was amazed by the bikers’ advocacy. “These are just regular men who work and live in the world. I thought that was great, because sometimes we hear about men that live a lifestyle that is totally denigrating the dignity of women and are not responsible with children. Yet, here are men who are actually giving great witness to the Gospel.”

Drozdick and his friends are quick to quell, particularly through their pro-life advocacy, common misperceptions about bikers, namely, “that we’re gruff and we’re ruff and we couldn’t care less because we probably got women in trouble when we were younger because we’re bikers,” he said. “If you talk to somebody that gets to know bikers, they’ll say they’re the most honest, friendly, willing to give you the shirt off their back people.”

Upon the conclusion of prayers outside Margaret Sanger Planned Parenthood, the participants process to Old St. Patrick’s for Benediction. Afterward, a reception is held in the parish house on Mulberry Street.

“Praise God for all that came to pray today—their prayers were answered,” said biker Thomas Upshur, 70, in a Facebook post to participants later that first Saturday in May.

Upshur was recounting how yet another life had just been saved through the prayerful intercession of pro-life advocates, bikers and non-bikers alike. He explained that a man and his girlfriend changed their minds about having their baby aborted at Margaret Sanger. The couple had confided in a laywoman sidewalk counselor, who had counseled alongside the bikers that day. She later accompanied the couple to the Sisters of Life for support.

“Thank you so much,” Upshur concluded in his post to all the pro-life advocates, “for your participation in our spiritual battle for life.”

Founded in 2009, Pro Bikers for Life continually seeks additional members. Information: www.probikersforlife.org and www.facebook.com/ProBikersForLife