(Oregon Right to Life) — Volunteers equipped with apologetics training and welcoming smiles are staffing pro-life fair booths across Oregon this summer, sharing vital information and engaging in meaningful dialogue with fairgoers. These conversations can have far-ranging impacts, changing hearts and minds in a state that currently has no meaningful limits on abortion – something many people, even those who identify as “pro-choice,” do not actually support.
Oregon Right to Life (ORTL) hosts its fair booth outreach in counties across Oregon each year – from the rural regions near the Idaho border to the more populated places like Salem and the Portland area. Hundreds of thousands of people attend Oregon’s fairs annually, making the booths a significant opportunity to ensure people hear the pro-life message.
“Doing outreach at our local fairs allows us to reach many of our community members at once,” said ORTL Community Outreach Specialist Robert Young, Jr. “In 2025, over one million Oregonians visited a local fair that hosted an Oregon Right to Life Education Foundation fair booth, giving us the chance to expose them to the truth about abortion, direct them to their local life-affirming resources, and show them how amazing human life is! It’s this kind of reach that makes our fair booths invaluable.”
People who visit the booths get to see and hold lifelike baby models (including take-home twelve-week fetal models called “pocket babies”), watch a true-to-life video showing fetal development in the womb, explore regional pro-life resource guides, and even hear a recording of an unborn baby’s heartbeat on a special retro telephone. Visitors can also read and take handouts about chemical abortion and surgical abortion procedures, factual documents that clarify what abortion really is – and that it’s not merely “ending a pregnancy,” but intentionally taking an innocent human life.
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In addition to inviting fairgoers to engage with the resources available at the booths, volunteers interact with their neighbors and fellow community members in reasonable, honest, and compassionate conversations about abortion. Volunteers at the booths have shared powerful stories about their dialogues with ordinary Oregonians.
“Sarah and Amelia* thought abortion was morally okay to a certain extent, such as rape or a specific development stage,” said Minh H., a volunteer at last year’s Oregon State Fair. “But after discussing with them and showing that abortion kills innocent human beings, they said all abortions are wrong in the end.”
Another 2025 Oregon State Fair volunteer, John C., described a woman approaching the booth’s display that prompts fairgoers to place a plastic chip in one of two boxes to indicate whether or not they support Oregon’s current position of unrestricted legal abortion. She put her chip in the box supporting the status quo (legal abortion up to birth), but a simple question made her stop and reconsider.
“When I asked her if there should be any restrictions on abortion, she replied, ‘No.’ I asked, ‘What about for sex-selection?’ She paused and said she didn’t support abortion for sex-selection,” John C. said. “So I asked her if she supports restrictions, to which she reluctantly agreed. Walked away with a fan [one of the booth’s pro-life handouts] and had a pleasant ending to the conversation.”
The interactions at pro-life fair booths can sometimes have even more profound impacts.
Not long ago, a young woman from Portland stopped by the booth at the Tillamook County Fair to express her gratitude to the volunteers. The prior year, she said, she had walked by the booth – eighteen, pregnant, and confused. Those around her were telling her she should have an abortion. But when she saw the lifelike fetal models, she realized that what she was carrying inside her was a baby, not merely a clump of cells. She chose life, and today her child is the light of her life.
Helping a mother choose life is one clear and profound effect that pro-life fair booths can have. But even if an interaction doesn’t immediately cause a change of heart, the booths and the volunteers who staff them can help people start thinking about abortion in a different way.
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ORTL Community Outreach Director Makyra Williamson said she hopes people come away from visiting pro-life fair booths “with a sense of curiosity that motivates them to learn more.”
“We want to put a pebble in their shoe and pique their curiosity about human development, abortion, and human rights,” she said. “I hope that pro-choice people walk away realizing that pro-life people are reasonable people with reasonable views. There are so many caricatures in media, and fair booths are one of the best ways for us to show that pro-life Oregonians care deeply about women and families along with protecting the lives of the unborn.”
“Whether it’s seeing fetal development in a new way or simply having a chance to have a respectful conversation in a safe environment, I hope everyone leaves with a little more knowledge than when they arrived,” said Shannon Garlitz, ORTL Community Outreach Coordinator for Eastern Oregon. Garlitz said she hopes people recognize that “ORTL is here to support moms and families.”
Williamson reminded anyone interested in volunteering at their local pro-life fair booth this summer that engaging in thoughtful conversation with others is the most important thing, not necessarily being an expert.
“You don’t have to know all the statistics and all the apologetics arguments in order to be an effective advocate for life,” she said. “I can’t remember everything all the time, and this is my job! As long as you are leading with compassion, listening to understand, finding common ground, and educating about human development and abortion along the way, you will have productive, deeply impactful conversations that change hearts and minds.”
Visit ortl.org/fair-volunteer to learn more, become a volunteer, or give to support the mission.
*names changed for privacy.
