As Katie Brown, Judie’s granddaughter, takes on a new leadership role at ALL, she reflects on Judie’s inspiring career and far-reaching influence in the pro-life movement.
I recently stepped into the role of national director at American Life League. As exciting as it is, I can’t help but feel overwhelmed at times. Doubts and questions arise, including “What do I have to offer?” or “Do I have the right experience?” But reflecting on my grandmother’s lifetime of accomplishments, I’m reminded that her beginnings in the pro-life movement didn’t start with a fancy degree or years of experience. They started with a simple desire to do more for the babies.
This calling led her to change history.
Judie Brown is, without a doubt, one of the most influential women of the 20th and 21st centuries, having worked with the likes of Saint John Paul II and President Ronald Reagan. Her impressive career as a defender of the preborn has inspired countless people, especially me. Her numerous speeches at national events and appearances on TV shows like The Oprah Winfrey Show made her a household name for one reason: She approaches the defense of human beings with a level of common sense that leaves most pro-aborts without a rebuttal.
“What about the baby?” my granny said to me once on the phone. On this particular call, I had asked Judie what her response would be to using a public relations angle in which we said something like “Planned Parenthood hates women.”
They do, of course, as they make vulnerable young women their primary source of revenue. But Judie was right. What about the baby? The baby, after all, is the one paying the ultimate price in every abortion.
Judie has fought since the 1970s to keep the baby a key part of the fight against abortion violence. Pro-life language these days has morphed into mostly “pro-woman” verbiage, with sentiments like “pro-woman, pro-love” being passed off as buzzwords to end abortion.
What these statements miss is just what Judie never forgets: What about the baby? The pro-woman language from the pro-life movement is largely in response to the other side’s infamous cry of “my body, my choice.” This slogan was formed intentionally to take the focus of abortion off the baby. Every embryology textbook teaches that a preborn baby’s body is separate from the mother’s, so this phrase can only be intended to cause confusion. And unfortunately, a large part of the pro-life movement took the bait and left the baby out of it.
But not Judie.
Judie famously touted “Face it, abortion kills a person” in the early 1990s. This became ALL’s tagline, reminding people what we are truly facing. Abortion is not a personal medical decision. Abortion is not healthcare. It is the murder of a preborn baby.
From the beginning, Judie has made the baby the focus of her fight. It’s this focus that earned her a seat on Pope John Paul II’s Pontifical Academy for Life and a seat at the White House with Reagan’s pro-life committee.
But let’s go back to the very beginning. Judie’s involvement in the pro-life movement began in a way similar to mine, with the influence of a loving and faithful grandmother.
The early years
Judie grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles, raised by her mother and grandparents after her father deserted them. Her devotion to the Catholic faith took root with her grandmother, who would take Judie to a weekly rosary and ensured that they attended Mass and Catholic school.
But what a lot of people may not know is that Judie had a reversion to the faith in the late 1960s. In her 20s, she became what she calls “a lazy Catholic,” making excuses for not attending Mass and even taking birth control. But this all changed one night when, for an unknown reason, Judie’s husband Paul called her and said he wanted to go back to church and have their son, Hugh, baptized.
It was this turn of events that placed Judie and Paul in a church pew one Sunday morning when, for the first time, they heard a homily about an upcoming ballot initiative in their state of Washington that would liberalize the state’s abortion law. This led Judie and Paul to volunteer to go door-to-door and distribute pro-life literature to voters. Little did they know this would be the very first leg in a long career of saving little lives.
Judie’s commonsense approach to abortion continued after a move to Kannapolis, North Carolina, but not as a witty tactic. It was born out of necessity. Judie, who had no formal debate training or degree in life sciences, was chosen by her pastor to debate a local abortionist.
In her autobiography, Judie says of this event, “I knew hardly anything about the complex issues, so I stuck to the simple ones. When my turn came to speak, I simply described what actually happens to a baby during an abortion. This so unnerved Dr. Crosby (the abortionist) that he got up and walked out of the room.”
“God uses those who are willing to be used,” Judie wrote. “And He gives them whatever they need to accomplish the task He sets before them.”
Eventually, as a representative for Upper Ohio Valley Right to Life, Judie would receive more formal training from Dr. John Willke, who emphasized the sanctity of life, the child’s right to life from the moment of creation, and the importance of faith in pro-life work.
This is the leg of her pro-life career that propelled her to eventually start American Life League.
The founding of ALL
In 1976, Upper Ohio Valley Right to Life sent Judie as a rep to the National March for Life in Washington, DC. This invigorated Judie and led her to say a prayer that ultimately changed the course of her life. Inspired by March for Life founder Nellie Gray and her conviction for life, Judie prayed simply to do more for the preborn and to be moved closer to the pro-life action in our nation’s capital.
Two weeks later, Judie’s husband was transferred by his company to DC, and the young Brown family landed in Northern Virginia.
God has woven a web of connections in Judie’s life, giving her whatever she needed to accomplish the task of saving babies from abortion, regardless of their circumstances.
Judie found herself working for Dr. Mildred Jefferson at the National Right to Life. This eventually led her to the community that would help her start American Life League in 1979, founded on the principle that abortion should be eradicated without exception and without compromise.
It is this foundation that has made American Life League one of the nation’s most formidable abortion opponents. Judie’s career has taken her all over the globe, influencing generations of men and women to fight for the babies. The ALL offices, and even Judie’s own dinner table, have served as training grounds for the next generations of pro-life leaders.
In 1981, a priest by the name of Father Paul Marx lived with the Brown family while he discerned what the Lord was calling him to do in the pro-life movement. At the dinner table, Paul and Fr. Marx cooked up a name for the priest’s budding organization—Human Life International. Shortly thereafter, Fr. Marx moved to Washington, DC, and opened the first HLI headquarters.
In 2009, a young Abby Johnson was put in contact with Judie after resigning from her position at Planned Parenthood. Judie offered counsel and advice to Abby, who has changed the landscape of the pro-life movement and served as a spark that has ignited the conversion of many Planned Parenthood employees.
In the 2010s, Judie offered guidance to a young Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, who has also gone on to change the hearts and minds of countless young people with her influence on social media and the Internet.
While offering counsel and guidance to other pro-life leaders, Judie has touched the hearts and minds of hundreds of thousands of people around the world.
When I represent ALL at events, I meet people from all over the nation who remember a single encounter with Judie and how it propelled them into their own work in the pro-life movement. Everyone shares the same sentiment: They met Judie once and suddenly they were on fire for life!
What strikes me the most about Judie’s powerful influence on the pro-life movement is that she was just an ordinary woman whom God called to do extraordinary things. She was inspired by the people around her and the people who raised her. She wasn’t given any superhuman talents or access to the upper echelon of society. She simply desired to do more for the preborn, and God made it happen.
Judie remarks how attending a weekly rosary with her grandmother when she was a child left an impression on her. I have to assume that the Blessed Mother has been guiding my grandmother over these last 80-plus years. It was the Blessed Mother’s “yes” that changed all of human history, and through her example, it is Judie’s own “yes” that has changed countless lives and saved many babies.
Judie’s legacy, though far from over, can be summed up by her words to me on that phone call a few years back: “What about the baby?”
Indeed, all of Judie’s work has been for the babies.
My own mentor and dear friend Jim Sedlak once told me that pro-life work is hard because, until we reach heaven, we will have no idea how many lives our work has saved. One day, Judie will know just how many hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of lives she saved. But for now, I feel peace in the fact that my dearly departed grandpa, Paul Brown, knows that exact number.
I know he couldn’t be prouder of my grandmother, and I hope that he is proud that I will carry on her legacy. Judie’s courageous defense of life and work with ALL continue every day, and I am excited to now join her in leading our team as we fight tirelessly for the babies.
American Life League Staff Reflect on Judie’s Impact
The rarest virtue on planet Earth is moral courage. My mom lives her life faithfully to the calling the Lord placed on her heart. That is rare. She is an example of humility, faithfulness, and an indomitable will to stand firm and fight for the truth no matter the cost, no matter the hate, and no matter the wickedness and snares of the devil. Amidst deceivers, liars, wolves, and cowards, Judie has never flinched. Millions of human beings are alive on this planet because of her unyielding commitment to stand for the truth and to serve our Lord. She is rare; she is my hero.
— Hugh Brown, executive vice president
Many years ago, a young couple not yet done with university became pregnant. There was tremendous pressure to do the unthinkable rather than bring a baby into the world, and it was remarkably easy to feel alone. Instead, that young couple chose life, and our tiny little bundle of joy eventually grew tall, became surrounded by brothers and sisters, and today our son Jonathan is studying for the priesthood at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary. There are dozens if not hundreds of untold stories such as the one above. Judie Brown’s legacy as the “godmother of the pro-life movement” continues to remain deep in the hearts of so many Catholic pro-life families.
— Shaun Kenney, former vice president
Judie doesn’t ever tell people what they want to hear. She tells them what they need to hear. I learned this when I began recording Judie’s talks to pro-life audiences. In 2007, Judie began to speak to a room full of March for Life attendees. After reminding the audience that they were about to participate in the thirty-fourth march, a few people clapped. Judie stopped mid-sentence, held up a finger, and said, “Well, that’s nothing to clap about. Honestly.” Minutes later, Judie explained how pro-life groups in Michigan sabotaged a personhood amendment to the state’s constitution. To this day it is my favorite speech of hers because it introduced me to the fragility of the pro-life movement. It taught me why Judie Brown and ALL remain committed to always doing what is right and never to what is popular.
— Dwain Currier, digital content creator and photographer
Raised pro-life, I began working for ALL while still in high school. During my first year at college, I was bombarded with rhetoric and began questioning the “hard cases,” wondering if abortion was sometimes a necessary evil. The next summer when I returned to work at ALL, I paid very close attention to everything Mrs. Brown said and wrote, and I came to understand why she fought for all babies. That fall, I headed back to school prepared to defend the right to life of every preborn baby—no exceptions! Forty years later, I still turn to Judie Brown for guidance and inspiration.
— Bonnie Seers, director of publications
I have known Judie Brown for nearly 90% of my life. To say that her words and teachings have shaped the core of my being is an understatement. From the time I was small, she helped me understand the sanctity of all people. Now, as an adult, I am privileged to put that understanding into practice, as every day I heed Judie’s words to protect the vulnerable and to teach others to do the same. Her compassion and her love inspire everything we do at American Life League.
— Susan Ciancio, editor of Celebrate Life Magazine and director of the Culture of Life Studies Program
My work with Judie Brown for 30-plus years has not just been a job; it has been nothing short of inspiring. Watching Judie live her life is akin to watching a saint in the making. Judie’s fierce devotion to her family, her faith, and the babies puts the rest of us mere mortals to shame. To know that she has been responsible for saving the lives of millions of babies is staggering, but to Judie it is her life’s work—no compromise, no exception, no apology. On a personal level, knowing and working with Judie changed my life in ways I couldn’t begin to list. Suffice it to say, her example has infused in me a greater love for my Catholic faith, the babies, and all human beings, from creation to death. Thank you, Judie, for showing me how to live a life built on truth and love.
— Bridget Carroll, director of ALL Associate Partners for Life
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