“The most interesting thing to happen during our campaign is a nurse who came to share her story with us,” said Martina, the 40 Days for Life leader in Bratislava.
The vigil is in front of a hospital … and the nurse works on the eighth floor of that hospital.
There are two different worlds in that hospital. One of them is the gynecology department, where this nurse and her colleagues watch the vigil – and pray for the participants.
“She and her colleagues are all pro-life and they are all believers,” said Martina. “However, the other department in the hospital is the opposite — it is the one where abortions are performed.”
The vigil is along a very busy road – at least 100 people from all walks of life pass by every minute during the morning rush hour.
“They all usually stare at us first,” she said, “and many of them react … either negatively — they remark on our posters, they are not satisfied with what we are doing, they call us names and use bad language, or positively — they honk if they drive a car … or even start praying with us.”
Martina said it is getting colder and colder in Slovakia, “so sometimes it is quite uncomfortable to stand and pray. But we persist regardless of the weather conditions!”
