Mary Guzzino Wilkinson brought herself to tears thinking about the oppression unborn babies may be up against following the 2020 national elections and the success of pro-abortion candidates. She wanted to do something to educate others about the sanctity of human life, so she asked God what she could do in her small part of the world to show people the truth.
“He consistently put on my mind, ‘A picture is worth a thousand words,’” Mary said. “As I continued to pray about it, He continued to repeat the same.”
Wilkinson answered by ordering several 4×8 pro-life banners featuring pre-born children at various stages of development. She and her husband, Jay, put them in front of their property in Iowa, near Lake Charles in Southwest Louisiana, then friends wanted a banner to put up, too, so she ordered more. Then God gave her one more message: “Go bigger!”
Knowing a billboard campaign would be a large financial undertaking, Mary contacted Louisiana Right to Life for support. Mary then began spearheading a major billboard effort around the Lake Charles area, raising the needed funds and coordinating the designs and billboard locations.
“Think of the millions of times these messages will be viewed,” she said. “Think of the conversations about life in the womb that will occur.”
That is how the Louisiana billboard effort began. It has now expanded to four areas of Louisiana and is focused on spreading the message of life with local residents and touching the lives of women traveling from Texas in search of an abortion.
In 2021, the Texas Heartbeat Act passed that state’s legislature and took effect. It made abortion illegal in Texas once a fetal heartbeat can be detected, except to save the mother’s life. The Texas Heartbeat Act prohibits abortion when there is a detectable heartbeat, which may be as early as 6 weeks into a woman’s pregnancy.
Because of this, many women began traveling into Louisiana seeking abortion at one of the state’s three abortion facilities. Abortion remains legal in Louisiana through 20 weeks.
To try and reach these women, we have teamed up with donors and volunteers to place billboards like the one above (and other messages) on important stretches of interstate.
We have four billboard campaigns ongoing, with boards up in the Shreveport area and on I-10 near Lake Charles, Lafayette, and Baton Rouge.
Donations can be made to individual campaigns:
Acadiana Billboard Campaign
Baton Rouge Billboard Campaign
Calcasieu Billboard Campaign
North Louisiana Billboard Campaign
Please visit each one and learn more about the campaigns.
