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Love Australia began five years ago and has now gone national. Its latest mission: make every church a safe place for women with crisis pregnancies.

“It is with a profound sense of gratitude and hope that we gather today for the fifth annual Walk for Life. What started as an initiative in Adelaide is now blossoming into a nationwide movement, aptly named ‘Love Australia’.”

These were the words of Jodie Pickard, founder of Love Australia, as she addressed the 4,500-strong crowd of committed pro-life advocates in Adelaide’s picturesque northern Park Lands earlier this month.

Among those gathered were representatives from multiple churches that had never been involved previously.

“The atmosphere this year was the the most positive I think it has ever been,” she tells the Daily Declaration.

Five years ago, Love Australia was a much smaller outfit and went by the name Love Adelaide, after the city in which the ministry originated.

But after five successful Walks for Life around the Adelaide CBD, along with the launch of the inaugural Love Sydney Walk for Life in September last year, this is now a ministry with a truly national reach — and big dreams for the future.

“Hope is returning,” Jodie tells us. “We know that things are slowly changing and if we don’t give up we will see real changes.”

A Brand New Aussie Ministry: House of Refuge

Over the last year, the biggest change for Love Australia — besides its new name, of course — is the launch of the House of Refuge ministry. House of Refuge is a program that empowers local churches to become places of safety, support and healing for women with unplanned pregnancies.

Churches should be a place that women experiencing a crisis pregnancy run to, not from, Jodie explains.

“The first goal of the House of Refuge is to make sure no women attending our churches turns to an abortion clinic for help instead of their church.”

Sadly, U.S. data reveals that this is exactly what has been happening.

Equipping churches for such an important task doesn’t happen overnight, however. Love Adelaide has spent the last year preparing the resources needed for this project.

“The final piece has come in now with Love Life partnering with us for the training of representatives,” Jodie tells the Daily Declaration.

Love Life is an American-based ministry that has mobilised 170,000 people and partnered with 1,100 churches stateside to — as their mission statement explains — “create a culture of love and life that will result in an end to abortion and the orphan crisis”.

In the week leading up to the recent Adelaide Walk for Life, Pastor Brian Ottinger from Love Life held two meetings for pastors and church leaders to hear more about what it means to become a House of Refuge church.

“We now have 12 churches ready to start their training,” Jodie says.

The Canberra Declaration Connection

We were encouraged when Jodie explained the unexpected role the Canberra Declaration has played in these events.

One of the 12 churches — and the very first in Australia to formally pledge to the House of Refuge Statement — was a church that connected with Love Australia through the Canberra Declaration: Hope Church in Caves Beach, NSW, led by Pastor Daniel Secomb.

“New Hope jumped straight in and will join the training also,” Jodie explains.

The need for House of Refuge churches in Australia is acute.

If the impossible happened, and Australia’s abortion laws were overturned tomorrow, “we would not be prepared to support the numbers of families in need,” Jodie says.

“This is why the House of Refuge is so important. It can make every church a place of support.”

“What would Australia look like if our society knew they could turn to the church for help in every city and town?”

The great news is that Australian churches have been very responsive to this message.

“Since the event, our emails are being flooded with inquires about the House of Refuge. We have a lot of work to do now to get this happening everywhere across our beautiful nation,” Jodie tells us.

“The church is the answer. There is no Plan B.”

Learning from the United States

There is no question that Australian pro-lifers have taken great hope from the overturning of Roe v Wade by the United States Supreme Court in 2022.

According to Jodie, that event did not happen in a vacuum but rather as a result of decades of dedicated work.

Americans praying and repenting over abortion, both in private and in public, was essential in the fight, she says.

So was political engagement — specifically the voting into positions of power, at local, state and federal levels, of Christians and other pro-life conservatives. The capstone of that work was of course former President Donald Trump’s appointment of three pro-life Supreme Court justices.

But in the United States, pregnancy care has also been vital, Jodie tells us.

When the Supreme Court overturned Roe, pregnancy care centres outnumbered abortion clinics three to one, ensuring that no matter what happened to abortion laws, no family would be left without support in the event of an unplanned pregnancy.

Australia ‘At Least One Decade Behind’

“In Australia, we are at least one decade behind, possibly more,” Jodie warns.

“The one area we are a long way behind in is pregnancy care. Australia’s pregnancy help centres get no government funding and very little from churches. They rely on volunteers which limits their capacity.”

“This is very different from the United States,” she explains.

“In Australia, we have around 40 pregnancy support centres across our expansive nation. With medical abortion pills now being able to be send almost everywhere we do not have nearly the support needed.”

There is much yet to do. But so much ground already gained.

And Jodie is hopeful.

“Together, we can be a catalyst for change, fostering a society that stands for the sanctity of life, because we know that every life is a gift given by God for His glory,” she declared at the recent Walk for Life.

Her vision, and the vision of Love Australia, is for churches to “share the Heavenly Father’s heart for life — becoming His hands and feet to help those who need support and guidance for healing”.

If you are reading this, one of the most important things you could do for the pro-life movement in Australia is to speak to your pastor or other church leaders about making your church a House of Refuge.

If you are from South Australia, you can also sign the Justice for the 8 open letter, written by Dr Joanna Howe and addressed to Premier Peter Malinauskas and the state’s opposition leader urging an amendment to the Termination of Pregnancy Act 2012 (SA) to make late-term abortion illegal.

You can read and sign the open letter here.