Andy was a pioneer in New Zealand...
/by Bryan Kemper
When most people think of a Kiwi, they think of a little green fuzzy fruit. But I think of a red fuzzy abortion abolitionist named Andy Moore.
I first met Andy Moore online, as he was one of the first people to establish the Pro-
life Day of Silent Solidarity in another country. I thought he had gotten the date wrong, not realizing that when he sent me pictures of students participating that it was already the next day in New Zealand.
Andy was a pioneer in New Zealand, as he co-founded Pro-life New Zealand, the country’s only youth pro-life organization. I remember talking to Andy via Skype about all of his ideas for pro-life activism and outreach. I was struck by his commitment to protecting the pre-born and by his initiative in getting other young people involved in the fight for life.
His enthusiasm and dedication to advancing social justice led him to helping run the first March for Life there in many years. And when Family Planning New Zealand (the NZ equivalent of Planned Parenthood) announced plans to start committing chemical abortions at its 30 health clinics, Andy created a group called Stop Family Planning, which led the charge in the successful fight to stop this expansion of abortion.
In January 2011, Andy invited me along with pro-life nurse-turned blogger Jill Stanek to New Zealand for a seven-stop national speaking tour. I gladly left the extreme cold in Ohio for 10 days of their summer time.
I was thrilled when Andy moved to the U.S. to marry Daena. New Zealand may have lost a great guy, but we were gaining an awesome pro-life warrior. I knew Andy would do great things here as part of the generation that will abolish abortion.
Andy and I worked together on many social media projects and graphics over the next couple of years. I remember calling Andy at midnight on a Wednesday in the winter of 2013 to discuss ideas about exposing the serial killer Kermit Gosnell to the world. We talked about taking to Twitter to get the media to stop ignoring this abortionist murder trial and dubbed the event a “Tweetfest.”
I went to bed that night after sharing the Facebook event Andy created for our Tweetfest and awoke to almost 2,000 people committed to participating. By the time the event started on Friday, there were almost 10,000 people committed to tweet. During a 12-hour period on Friday over 600,000 tweets went out using that hashtag, and the world was exposed to the “House of Horrors” that was Gosnell’s abortion mill.
Anderson Cooper, Patricia Heaton, Ted Cruz, and so many more were tweeting and talking about this story. The next day, the courtroom was over flowing with media. The “Tweetfest” had created such a buzz that even the Huffington Post admitted to not reporting this story on purpose.
Andy now works as the Director of Online Communications for Americans United for Life— the legal architect of the pro-life movement— where he manages the organization’s online presence including web, email, and social media.
He understands that we are in this movement not for ourselves but for the babies. And he is dedicated to exhorting people who claim to be pro-life to actually stand up and be a voice for the voiceless by empowering them to affect change in their circles of influence.
“Most of my friends [in New Zealand] probably think I’m too extreme,” he was quoted as saying in a profile piece written up on him by a New Zealand newspaper. But he doesn’t feel he has a choice but to continue. “Ninety-nine percent of pro-lifers aren’t living out that term. You can’t say you’re pro-life and not do anything about it.”
I’m proud to be working alongside this determined, strong-willed Kiwi to make abortion not just illegal but unthinkable— here in the U.S. and across the globe. Register NOW to join Andy this weekend at the International ProLife Youth Conference!
