If you will, think for a moment about all the controversy and disagreement on the issue of abortion as if it were playing out on a huge chess board.  Imagine the opposing sides facing off in a battle to win the decisions of women about what to do in instances of pregnancy; pro-choice and abortion on one side, pro-life and birth on the other. Each move of the pieces shows the pro-choicers trying to turn women towards freedom from pregnancy and fertility in preference for everything else, and on the other side the pro-lifers trying to sway women towards acceptance of life and their bodies natural functions before everything else. The desired outcomes for women are opposites, yet each side is assigned pieces or players that are similar.
In the pro-choice and pro-life movements there are many players on each side.  Just like in chess some players are more powerful or useful in their ability to actualize the end goal of their team. The goal of chess is to capture the King. In real life, the goal is to capture women’s attention and popular opinion. The pieces may change in value as the game progresses and based upon the circumstances of the board positioning, but all of the chessmen are important and play some vital role in the success of their team.
Now of course no analogy is perfect, so bear with me a little bit and follow this through to see if you agree with my final premise.
In our real world “game” we first have the pawns, or the donors and volunteers to each side of the abortion debate. Pawns are like the regular people all around us who might write a check to an organization, yet still go about daily life just like everyone else. There are more pawns than any other piece in chess (eight) and often they are the first to exit the game as they make the first moves. The donors and volunteers are the easiest to fall out of these movements and much like the chess pieces, their range of motion/effect is rather small compared to the other pieces. However, just as donor money and volunteer time establishes the centers on both sides of the abortion issue pawns can change the entire direction of a game by staying in it long enough to score the win. A pawn that is able to reach the opposing side of the board can be promoted into any other piece, resulting in more powerful pieces for one team. A dedicated volunteer or a generous donor can have far-reaching effects.
Then there are the two knights, or in our larger “game” the clinic escorts and the sidewalk counselors. Both are facing off heroically in a battle for the women at the precipice of their decision.   Both in chess and in our real life “game” they are restricted in their movement to awkward patterns (governed by right-of-way and Clinic Entrance laws in most real life instances) and can only strike when the exact right opportunity arises. Their armor consists of clinic escort vests for the pro-choice team and homemade signs and pamphlets for the pro-lifers.
The bishops are pieces that are easy to see the real-world counterpart for; obviously our clergy.  There are two bishops for each team on the chess board. Each side of the abortion issue has clergy lining up to back their position. Pro-choicers have the Episcopals, the Unitarian Universalists and some more liberal Christian churches, while pro-lifers generally have the Catholics, Muslims, and Jewish faiths.  The chessmen bishops can move any number of vacant squares in a diagonal direction, which means they never leave their assigned color. Much like how we see the real-world bishops preaching within the square walls of their own churches, not often infiltrating into the public discourse outside their own color. They can move far which makes them very powerful, but can only make a strike if someone wanders into their space.
Next come the two rooks, or the abortion clinic workers and pregnancy resource and care centers workers.  Rooks are a valuable piece as they are able to move any number of vacant squares forward, backward, left or right. Our clinic and center workers are valuable in this way too as they also can reach far across the board with their messages through utilizing media, fundraising campaigns, and direct contact with women.  Rooks are more valuable because of their ability to be more places on the board. They live regular lives and interact in churches, schools, with friends and family.  Their experiences with a wide range of people make them a powerful tool. An interesting note on the rooks is that when they are protecting each other and working together they are particularly powerful pieces.
The Queen is widely regarded as the most powerful of all the chess pieces on the board. There is only one Queen on each team. Her range of motion is unmatched by another piece as she can move any number of vacant squares in any direction forwards, backwards, left, right, or diagonally. She is the greatest barrier to the opposition achieving their goal. She is the greatest threat to both teams winning the hearts and minds of women. She protects her own King piece as she also goes out and risks herself in pursuit of the opposition’s King piece.
Remember, the King is the end object for both teams. Capturing the King means access to abortions for the pro-choice team and for the pro-life side support for birth. In chess Kings can only move one square at a time. So while they can help a little bit by avoiding a possible attack they are pretty vulnerable to attacks by multiple pieces working together and are relentlessly pursued by all. Just like real women facing the abortion question.
So who are the “Queens” or the  most powerful players in our movements?
For the pro-choice team the Queen piece is clearly the abortionist, the only person capable of executing the hard fought for right to terminate a pregnancy. They move from clinic to clinic as circuit riders and are all over the board speaking with the authority that their medical degree and experience affords them.
For the pro-life side this question has not been asked, or perhaps just not answered nearly enough. Many people in the pro-life movement would have a difficult time articulating who in their own movement has the greatest ability to bring about the immediate end goal of beautiful, loving births.
Many might say the players who have switched teams mid-game are the most valuable as they can attest to the horrors of their former team, share opposing strategy, and buoy the spirits of their new team onward. While this is a very valuable gain that could possibly result in a win if enough of the opposition transferred to the opponent’s side, these pieces are still only the pieces they always were on their original team. A former abortion clinic worker may become an outspoken advocate for life, but will remain a rook on their new team too. They are valuable indeed, but no, they are not the people capable of bringing about the goal we aim for. But who is? Who is the Queen piece of the pro-life movement?
The Pro-Life Midwife or Doctor.
The Queen piece of our movement must be the people capable of bringing women through the event that has challenged them to welcome new life. Our doctors and midwives are there to joyfully catch the new child that has entered our world and are uniquely able to fulfill the goal of allowing new life to develop and blossom. They empower the mother in her decision to choose life for her child and help her on the first steps to motherhood. We must raise up and recognize those who have the most power in moving all over the board to share the truths about life and have the opportunity to work with women in their times of greatest needs.
The Queen pieces speak with authority and move with greater power than an ordinary pawn, such that a board filled with Queen pieces on one team would decimate the opposition in a few moves. This is true for the pro-choice side too. If suddenly there were hundreds more abortionists setting up clinics it would not take long to overcome the resources of the pro-life movement and abortion would appear to become an uncontested practice in our world. Pro-life doctors and midwives hold their pro-choice colleagues in line by challenging them professionally and with research as to what is best for women and families. We need as many outspokenly pro-life doctor and midwife Queen pieces as possible to capture the King, or the hearts and minds of women everywhere.
Not only must we work to honor and bring up more pro-life midwives and doctors, but we also must work to provide safe places for them to practice the type of medicine that is life-affirming and focused on the holistic whole-life view of women and families.  Many of our Queen pieces have been blocked into corners on the board by hospitals and healthcare systems that hinder their power to move and be effective. They are often required to refer for or prescribe drugs that are in opposition to their beliefs. The right for pro-life doctors and midwives to practice medicine in accordance with their conscience is being challenged today.
When this happens our strongest piece has been crippled!
We cannot allow that to continue. We need to think differently about where we ask our doctors and midwives to practice.  We must find ways to unleash their fullest potential. Why would we want to cripple their ability to serve the way we need them to by locking them into employment at restrictive places?
Abortionists practice in clinics outside of hospital and often even state oversight. They have an immense freedom to persuade and convince women in the privacy of their clinics to receive a certain type of care. Why don’t we simply follow suit?
Imagine our strong doctors and midwives free to meet the needs of their patients in private practice clinics. Imagine all the pieces of the pro-life chess team working together to create a center that truly competes with the pro-choice abortion clinic. Only when our pieces are allowed the same freedom as our opponents to aggressively pursue the goal will the game ever be a fair match.
This is exactly the premise and the goal of The Guiding Star Project. We want to make this a fair battle by creating centers that can truly compete with the abortion clinics and Planned Parenthoods.  Why should we settle for pregnancy help centers with limited medical capacity when the opposition is capable of realizing their entire goal in their facilities?  Why can’t we create centers that not only can help a women process an unexpected pregnancy, but also walk beside her through the pregnancy, delivery, and early years of raising her child? The pieces of the pro-life team currently seem to be spread across the chess board and the table and even down onto the floor. Let’s pick ourselves up and line up to face the opposition by getting onto the same board and working together as a team.
All the chessman on the board play an important role in the victory of their team. Without any one of them the battle would likely be lost. We are all called to take part in this “game” in some way. Our conscience demands of us to become a player on the board and not a passive observer. Whether we are mere pawns or powerful Queens we can trust that our gifts and talents will be used for the win if we simply give what we have and allow ourselves to be used.
When we all work together we will be able to finally declare “checkmate” on abortion.