Sarah Bignell has valiantly led the 40 Days for Life vigil in Ealing and central London for many years now, seeing lives saved from even outside the buffer zone. Despite all the legal challenges to pro-life public witness, lives have been saved. To date 4 leaders have been arrested or charged with buffer zone laws. The history of the Ealing vigil is fascinating.

In Ealing the abortion center has a plaque to St Michael the Archangel still attached to the wall. The building used to be a home of spiritual healing before it became a late-term abortion center. It was reported that many people were healed in the center.

In 2012, an Irish lady died in a taxi after having an abortion in the center. In December 2011, Dr Phanuel Dartney was struck off the General Medical Register in Britain for almost killing an Irish woman after performing a botched abortion in Ealing. He left parts of the baby inside the woman leading to a perforated uterus.

40 Days for Life has been organizing vigils in Ealing since Lent 2013. The most successful vigil saw 23 lives saved from abortion in one campaign. There was also a 24-hour vigil and during one campaign 4 ambulances were seen at the abortion centre. One woman was holding the abortion pill inside her hand before she chose life for her child. A nurse made an error about her blood results and she did not go ahead with the abortion. Another woman jumped out of the window of the abortion center after escaping her family coercing her into an abortion.

The local and national governments have introduced a buffer zone to prevent freedom of speech and freedom of expression meaning that pro-life witness outside the abortion center is a criminal act. This has been challenged in the courts already. Alina was a lady who chose a life outside of the Ealing abortion center and has gone on to help many mothers in similar circumstances. The court appeal challenging the buffer zone law was lost, as a result the number of turnarounds in Ealing has decline 90%.

During the kickoff event in Lent 2025, a mother helped by the Good Counsel network shared her story.

'I was in an abusive relationship and found out I was pregnant. My husband and his family wanted me to end the pregnancy and told me the best way to do this would be to come to England, but I wanted to keep my baby. My husband and his family tried to put me under increasing pressure to have an abortion. On one occasion my husband even pushed me down the stairs.

Eventually, I was able to escape from that situation and through the local Church I was put in touch with the Good Counsel Network. Through this amazing group of pro-life people, I was able to have my beautiful baby who is now 1! So please continue to come to the vigil and support 40 Days for Life as you will be helping people like me and saving lives.'

During the presentation, Dr Majlinda Gjoni Thompson shared her story as a medical doctor who worked for the pro-life movement in Albania for 14 years. During her gynecology training, she witnessed one abortion and one miscarriage. These shocking moments are still marked vividly in her memory. She walked out and never entered that department again.

She invited Msgr Philip Reilly to Albania. While he spoke at a conference 2 lives were saved from abortion. One mother who was listening to him at the Conference had already had three abortions. A Sister of Mother Teresa (a Missionary of Charity) found her crying and asked her what was wrong. She confessed: I am pregnant again, but I don’t want to abort my child.

With the Sisters’ support, she gave birth to twins, Andrea and Antonio. I didn’t know anything about them until, later on, the sisters called and said “Come and see your children.”

Maljinda asked if Msgr Philip Reilly would like a short rest. He looked at me and said:  “How can I rest if the country is burning on fire’’? Those words have never left her. This is why she prayed outside the hospital for life every day.

To begin with, they prayed inside the hospital and the doctors were furious because many of the mothers delayed the procedure, cried, and changed their minds. Afterward, the prayer vigil continued outside. The first pro-life center in Albania was started. Tragically when the Bishop changed she lost a large part of her work as the rules changed. Maljinda worked with several priests who were abortion survivors. In 2024 she organized the first Albanian March for Life, in collaboration with the Coalition for Life and Family, a group of Catholics, Protestants, Muslims, and Orthodox believers.