2010 Harden

2010 Recipient - James R. Harden

It all started for Jim being delivered into this world at the hand of one who would become an abortion provider, in the hospital his father ran, to a mother who was a Planned Parenthood volunteer, with an IUD (abortion-causing contraceptive device) wrapped around his wrist. Jim is a big believer in destiny, the conviction that God has a purpose for each of us to fulfill in this world. George Bernard Shaw said, "The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." It is this fighting spirit that has driven Jim as early as high school to maintain free speech rights for students, taking it all the way to the Florida Supreme Court and winning, setting free speech precedent for all U.S. students.

He went on to marry his wife Linda in 1995, earn a BA in Philosophy of Religion and Masters in Divinity, become an ordained minister and have 7 children, all of whom are currently under the age of 13. His pro-life ethic is comprehensive and consistent, believing that all human life from conception to natural death bears the sacred image of God and must be protected and blessed. It is important to mention Jim's sense of humor which often serves to defuse the emotional intensity that so often accompanies the daily grind of coping with life and death.

Jim believes that justice is leveraging the power and influence we have on behalf of those who have none. Therefore the zenith of injustice should be the epicenter of our most potent resources. Abortion is the pinnacle of human injustice. With up to 1.3 million abortions occurring annually in the U.S. and over 40 million world-wide every year, it is an epidemic 10 times the size of AIDS, dwarfing the holocaust in magnitude in just one year, to say nothing of its cumulative impact over 35 years. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the German anti-Nazi activist said, "The test of the morality of a society is what it does to its children."

Jim often says, "The reality is, not a sane woman alive actually wants to have an abortion. A woman facing an unplanned pregnancy is driven by the fear of the unknown. She feels trapped, like she needs to have an abortion. CompassCare's mission is to erase the need for abortion by transforming a woman's fear into confidence." CompassCare believes that the manner in which services are provided are just as important, if not more so, than the services themselves. It is this philosophy of relevance that has made CompassCare stand out as a no-nonsense leader in the Pregnancy Resource Center movement.

Since its humble beginnings 30 years ago in 1980 as one of the first "Crisis Pregnancy Centers", CompassCare has been able to reach more women seriously considering abortion, and to help those women more consistently have their babies. Bottom line: during Jim's tenure from 2001 through 2009, CompassCare has multiplied its effectiveness in reaching and serving women seriously considering abortion by 127 times! In fact, in 2009 alone across teh 10-center network, 85% of women seriously considering abortion chose to have their babies! That translates into 1945 lives saved last year alone.

Imagine if all women facing unplanned pregnancy were insulated from political agendas and the vested financial interests of abortion providers. Imagine if ethical standards of care for women's reproductive health were identified and all organizations were held accountable to them. Imagine 1000 pregnancy centers each serving 1000 women seriously considering abortion with 80-90% effectiveness. Now imagine abortion in America dissolving before our very eyes. This is Jim's vision.

Let us say with Christopher Fry, "Thank God our time is now when wrong comes up to face us everywhere, never ot leave us till we take the longest stride of soul men ever took."