AT THE LOWEST MOMENT for the pro-life movement, four deliverances—two from law and politics, two from technology—turned the tide.

Blockades of abortion centers peaked in 1992 with 83 and were already down to 25 in 1994, but that year President Bill Clinton signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act. Protesters who blocked entrances, trespassed on facility property, or stopped cars from entering parking lots now faced up to a $10,000 fine and six months’ jail time for a first offense. A second conviction would bring up to 18 years in prison and fines of up to $25,000. In 1995 the number of blockades decreased to five, and soon there were none. The forced end to OR prominence was a public opinion blessing in disguise.

In 1995 a different sensational battle hit the news. Republicans who suddenly controlled both the Senate and the House of Representatives pushed forward legislation that showed how extreme America’s new abortion regime was. Eighty congressional Democrats joined the GOP majority in passing a partial-birth abortion ban that would keep abortionists from puncturing the skulls of children close to birth. Given his need for pro-abortion support, Bill Clinton chose to veto the bill twice, even though that kept the focus on barbarism.

The year 1996 brought the Fox News Channel: Suddenly the abortion lobby no longer had a broadcast monopoly. The growth of conservative talk radio and internet websites also opened up new media avenues. Pro-life communicators kept the partial-birth abortion issue alive until President George W. Bush could sign the ban into law, with 60 percent to 75 percent of the American public approving and the Supreme Court upholding it 5-4.

Meanwhile, a technological breakthrough aided the pro-life movement. The cost of ultrasound technology decreased and the quality increased. Troubled parents could now see not just a flat, black-and-white image that needed interpretation by doctors and nurses, but a multidimensional portrait of their unborn baby in motion. Crisis pregnancy centers found a sharp upswing in decisions to keep babies alive.

John Piper had offered a prophetic word in 1989: Ultrasound and intrauterine photography would open “a window on the womb that will be Exhibit A at the judgment seat of God. There is no more excuse.” Abortion advocates recognized this in 2016 when they criticized a 2016 Super Bowl commercial for Doritos in which an unborn baby moves yearningly toward a bag of chips. “Nobody shares a Facebook picture of their ‘fetus,’” The Daily Beast commented: “We call it a baby. And once we do, the argument is over.”

Not quite. Last spring’s Gallup polling showed 3 in 5 Americans wanting abortion to be illegal in all or almost all circumstances, but big media misinformation has been effective: One-third of that majority opposes overturning Roe v. Wade, even though Roe must go if abortion is to be most often illegal. The mis­education doesn’t end there: While more Americans self-identify as pro-life rather than pro-choice, only 35 percent believe they are in the majority.

Nevertheless, the reality of abortion combined with pro-life perseverance has produced much better results than evident in the other social issue that’s been central to our cultural battles, homosexuality. From 1996 to 2019, the percentage of Americans favoring same-sex marriage zoomed from 27 to 63 percent. Public opinion led the way to legal change. In 2011: The first polling majority for same-sex marriage. In 2012: President Barack Obama announces his support. In 2013: The Supreme Court signals its support by overturning a California constitutional amendment defining marriage as between one man and one woman. In 2015: A 5-4 Supreme Court makes it official.

DURING THAT SAME PERIOD, pro-life sentiment not only held its own but increased. The change is evident at both street level and suite level. The number of abortion centers in the United States has fallen to 800, while just one evangelical network, CareNet, has 1,100 affiliates. Another major pro-life organization, Heartbeat International, has 2,700 centers worldwide.

More than 800 churches participated last year in 40 Days for Life, a movement devoted not to blockading abortion businesses but witnessing near them. The organization says its vigils have contributed to saving nearly 17,000 lives since 2007, without creating a backlash that pushes public opinion in the direction of abortionists.