Florida Republicans passed a six-week heartbeat law that purports to ban abortion after the baby has a detectable heartbeat. Many conservative and liberal media outlets therefore assert that the murder of preborn babies in the Sunshine State has effectively ended under that law.

But there are still thousands of babies aborted yearly in the state of Florida, and there are still local Christians standing for the lives of the preborn by reaching abortion-minded mothers.

Ezra Deane, the director of Love Life South Florida, commented in an interview with The Sentinel that he and other staff members for the Christian anti-abortion ministry managed to obtain the building once used by a former abortion mill once the facility closed last spring.

“We didn’t want it to be a place of death anymore, and now it’s our office for Love Life South Florida, and a resource center with diapers and essentials for women,” Deane recounted.

Deane and the Love Life team had been ministering every week at abortion mills in the area for four years. They acquired the former abortion mill through a connection with a local business.

Since the abortion mill had been operating at that location for over two decades, even offering discounts to students at local universities, the team often meets women entering through their doors while seeking abortions, believing that the procedure is still available there. But two dozen of those abortion-minded women have chosen life in the first few weeks of this year alone.

“They closed down, we took over, and women are coming in believing it’s an abortion center,” Deane said. “When they call the main number, they get sent here, by the grace of God.”

Deane and his wife, along with other Love Life staffers and volunteers, share the gospel of Jesus Christ with the women who enter, then direct them to another nearby pregnancy center for ultrasounds. They also connect the women with mentors and direct them toward local churches. “It’s just the gospel,” Deane added. “The gospel has power and never returns void.”

Deane hails from Ireland and became a Christian eleven years ago. He later met his wife, who is an American, and with whom he has four daughters. The family became more involved with opposing abortion after Love Life visited their church to raise awareness about the issue.

“They made us aware of what was going on,” Deane commented. “A lot of churches we were in, it was a very tough subject, because many of the churches see it as more political than biblical.”

“It hit me like a ton of bricks. I need to do more. We need to do more. Being a voice for the voiceless and standing there, making people aware this is happening every single day,” Deane added. “No one is talking about it. There are thousands and thousands of children dying.”

Beyond merely reaching pregnant mothers who enter the former abortion mill where he works, Deane noted to The Sentinel that his team occasionally encounters human traffickers.

“Sometimes there’s pimps coming off the streets with sex workers, thinking this was still operating the way it was,” Deane said. “One guy came in the other day and asked me for tablets. I was like, ‘Excuse me?’ He’s like, ‘I need abortion pills.’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know who you are, but we don’t do this, and I can tell you the gospel.’ So I gave him the gospel.”

On some occasions, Deane and the staffers have called the police when they suspect that an individual who comes through their doors is a trafficker, which has led to at least one arrest.

“A guy came, brand new car, he pulls up. He gets out with a lady that was with him. She’s a little bit disheveled. She looked like she was terrified,” Deane said. “She came in and he wouldn’t even let her speak. As soon as she tried to speak, he got in her face and screamed at her.”

“I said, ‘Excuse me? Don’t speak to her like that.’ He then turned his attention to me and got in my face,” Deane continued. “I pushed him back and told the lady, ‘If you just ask me, we’ll help you, we’ll get you help.’ I threw him outside because he was screaming and being violent.”

Deane called the police, who stopped the trafficker down the street from their office. The police could not reveal many details but confirmed that they were able to apprehend the suspect.

The team meets people who are seeking to hide their sins through an abortion, such as a man who appeared at their office recently for abortion pills because he had impregnated a woman at his workplace. They also know women are obtaining abortion pills, by which the majority of abortions in the United States now occur, from social media and from overseas suppliers.

“It’s overwhelming because we’ve got women coming in every day,” Deane remarked. “We’ve got the gospel being shared. We’ve got all the guys who want to hide crimes coming in.”

But amid the intensity of their ministry, Deane noted to The Sentinel that they have hosted baby showers for mothers who choose life, as well as meet their needs for practical assistance.

Deane remarked that among the thousands of evangelical churches in southern Florida, only about seventy are involved with Love Life. The churches in the area, according to Deane, are more broadly hesitant to lead their members in engaging abortion for a variety of reasons.

“I’ve had every excuse under the sun: that it will deter people from attending, that they don’t believe it’s their issue,” he said. “They fear man more than God. It hurts my heart, and I’ve prayed that these pastors stand up, and that their authority is the Bible. It’s what God says. It doesn’t matter what anyone else says. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.”

The majority of women who are encountered through their ministry claim some affinity with the Christian faith or with local churches, meaning the issue of abortion is not effectively addressed. Love Life currently has a nationwide House of Refuge initiative which seeks to equip local churches on how to discuss abortion and promote a culture of life among their congregations.

Deane concurred that the six-week heartbeat law is not effectively limiting abortion in Florida. Beyond the ordering of abortion pills online and through the mail, Love Life volunteers have witnessed women leaving local abortion mills with the substances before the abortionist even arrives for the day, marking a violation of Florida regulations requiring doctors to prescribe them.

“It’s been eye-opening to see the amount of brokenness,” Deane said. “It’s just been amazing to be part of what God’s doing. It’s not me. It’s all the Lord. The people come in here looking for death, but instead they get life. We want them to run to the church, not these places of death.”