The Church Ambassador Network is a nonpartisan initiative of Family Council designed to build relationships between ministry leaders and community leaders.
The Choose Well Toolkit helps church navigate the 2024 election cycle. The toolkit is available for free to church leaders who volunteer to become part of the Church Ambassador Network.
Above: Eva Edl was arrested for criminal trespassing during a protest at a surgical abortion facility in Little Rock in 2021. She has since been charged federally for blocking an abortion facility entrance in Michigan (Photo Credit: via Facebook).
89-year-old death camp survivor faces prison time under DOJ’s criminalization of pro-life advocates.
Last month, seven pro-life protestors were convicted of engaging in “civil rights conspiracy” and violating the Clinton-era Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The protesters were arrested in August 2020 after standing in front of an abortion clinic in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Combined, the seven face up to 11 years in prison and $250,000 in fines.
One of those who were found guilty is Eva Edl, an 89-year-old widow from South Carolina who survived a death camp in her youth. She first came to the U.S. in 1955 at the age of 20 after fleeing a government-led ethnic cleansing in Yugoslavia. The target was the Danube Swabians, a German-speaking ethnic group to which her family belonged. As she recounted to the the Daily Signal, Eva’s mom decried the injustice, “We haven’t done anything wrong! Who would harm us?”
When Eva was nine, she, her parents, sister, and brother were rounded up by soldiers, loaded on a cattle car, and taken to an extermination camp. The prisoners were forced to share the same living quarters and one outhouse. Adults were forced to work but also kept on the brink of starvation. One day, while working in the fields, Eva’s mother escaped on a wagon under a pile of grain. She would later come back and help rescue her family.
It was in 1968, after moving to America, that Eva was introduced to the atrocity of abortion. During a discussion in English class, a fellow student declared it should be legalized (this was before Roe v. Wade ruled a constitutional right to abortion). “[A]fter that,” Eva said, “I just brought up the subject all the time because it bothered me that people would actually think of killing their own children.”
In the fall of 1988, 400 protesters were arrested outside of abortion clinics after two months of pro-life protests following the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta. Eva was shocked by this, but also compelled to do something. Likening abortion clinics to her experience in the death camp, Eva recalled:
When we were rounded up to be killed, we were placed in cattle cars, and our train was headed toward the extermination camp. What if citizens of my country would have overcome their fear, and a number of them stood on those railroad tracks between the gate of the entrance to the death camp and the train? The train would have to stop. And while the guards on those trains would be busy rounding up the ones that were in front of the train, another group could have come in, pried open our cattle car and possibly set us free, but nobody did.
Later that year, Eva joined a peaceful protest in Atlanta and was arrested for the first time. She has now been part of more than 50 “rescues” (what she calls the protests) and has been arrested about as many times.
Having emigrated from the tyranny of post-war, Communist-controlled Yugoslavia, Eva said she never imagined she would be imprisoned for protecting innocent lives here:
America, in my eyes, was this country of justice and opportunity and everything that is good. A beacon for us, over there, that didn’t know what all that meant, because we had nothing but oppression from whoever was ruling us at the time. … [H]uman life is sacred. Government does not have the authority to permit what God forbids. And murder is forbidden by God.
Since Roe was overturned a few years ago, the Department of Justice has indicted 40 pro-life advocates with FACE-related charges. Pray for Eva and protesters across the country who are being persecuted for standing for life.
This Breakpoint was co-authored by Jared Hayden. If you’re a fan of Breakpoint, leave a review on your favorite podcast app. For more resources to live like a Christian in this cultural moment, go to breakpoint.org.
Copyright 2024 by the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. Reprinted from BreakPoint.org with permission.
Issue 1: Arkansas Lottery Proceed Funding for Vocational-Technical School Scholarships and Grants Amendment.
Issue 1 is a proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution that the Arkansas Legislature voted to place on the ballot. Issue 1 would change the Arkansas Constitution to let proceeds from the Arkansas Lottery fund scholarships and grants for vocational-technical schools and technical institutes. As of September 15, no campaigns have formed to support or oppose Issue 1.
Issue 2: An Amendment Requiring Local Voter Approval in a Countywide Special Election for Certain New Casino Licenses and Repealing Authority to Issue a Casino License in Pope County, Arkansas.
Issue 2 is a proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution that the group Local Voters in Charge placed on the ballot by circulating petitions via Arkansas’ initiative process. The Arkansas Constitution currently authorizes casinos in Garland County, Jefferson County, Crittenden County, and Pope County. This group of local citizens is trying to remove Pope County from the list of locations where casino gaming is allowed. Under Issue 2, the State of Arkansas would be unable to authorize a casino in any community without a new constitutional amendment and without local voter approval at a special election.
As of September 15, state campaign ethics reports show Local Voters in Charge received $5.6 million from the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma in support of Issue 2.
Issue 2 is opposed by the Arkansas Canvassing Compliance Committee and by the group Investing in Arkansas. As of September 15, state campaign ethics reports show the efforts to defeat Issue 2 have received $2.8 million from the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma.
Issue 3: Arkansas Medical Marijuana Amendment of 2024.
Issue 3 is a proposed amendment to the Arkansas Constitution that the group Arkansans for Patient Access placed on the ballot by circulating petitions via Arkansas’ initiative process. Issue 3 would expand access to marijuana by making more than 30 changes to the Arkansas Constitution.
Currently, the Arkansas Constitution permits medical marijuana use for specific medical conditions listed in state law. Patients can pay $50 to purchase a medical marijuana card if a doctor examines and certifies them to use medical marijuana. Issue 3 would let a doctor, pharmacist, nurse practitioner, or physician’s assistant certify a person to use marijuana for any reason without a medical exam. Issue 3 would eliminate the $50 annual fee for marijuana cards, meaning cards would be provided for free at taxpayer expense. The amendment would give free marijuana cards to out-of-state users and illegal immigrants who come to Arkansas. Issue 3 also would let people grow and process up to fourteen marijuana plants at home.
Currently, Arkansas law strictly regulates marijuana advertising, and it contains restrictions on marketing and products that may appeal to children. Issue 3 would repeal current laws that prohibit marijuana advertising, and it would repeal childproof packaging and labeling standards for marijuana. The amendment prohibits any additional regulation or taxation of marijuana by the Arkansas Legislature and by city and county governments. Issue 3 also guarantees existing marijuana businesses a monopoly over marijuana in Arkansas by limiting the number of licenses available to grow and sell marijuana.
Besides changing Arkansas’ medical marijuana laws, Issue 3 also changes Article 5, Section 1, of the Arkansas Constitution concerning ballot initiatives, constitutional amendments, and referenda. Currently, the constitution gives the Arkansas Legislature the authority to change Arkansas’ medical marijuana amendment. Issue 3 would take this ability away and prevent the Arkansas Legislature from ever changing any state constitutional amendment.
As of September 15, state campaign ethics reports show Arkansans for Patient Access has received more than $1.9 million in support of Issue 3. Most of that money came from members of Arkansas’ marijuana industry, and most of it was used to hire canvassers to gather enough petition signatures to place the amendment on the ballot.
Issue 3 is opposed by Stronger Arkansas, Family Council Action Committee, and Protect Arkansas Kids. As of September 15, state campaign ethics reports show these three campaigns collectively have received more than $700,000 total from different individuals and organizations to defeat Issue 3.
