On Wednesday, the pro-life community has learned of the tragic loss of Vicki Thorn, foundress of Project Rachel, at the age of 72.
She shared her first indirect encountered when a friend needed help. “All I could do was just love her and be present to her, and make sure she was OK,” Thorn would recall years later. “But it was a life-changing experience for me, in understanding that abortion was not a non-event, that it left enormous footprints in someone’s life, and enormous pain.”
In 1984, Thorn founded Project Rachel while working for the Respect Life Office in Milwaukee. The idea of her ministry came from Jeremiah 31:25, which reads, “In Ramah is heard the sound of sobbing, bitter weeping! Rachel mourns for her children, she refuses to be consoled for her children — they are no more!”
In his statement on the tragic loss of Vicki Thorn, Archbishop Listecki recalled that “Vicki’s life was dedicated to a single mission; caring for men and women wounded by abortion. As the founder of Project Rachel, she single-handedly created a post-abortion healing ministry at a time when none existed,”
In 2021, Vicki Thorn received Evangelium Vitae Medal from the University of Notre Dame. View the presentation here.
Today, Project Rachel is flourishing through a majority of Archdioceses throughout the United States and in 25 additional countries.
More information about Project Rachel is available on the ministry’s USCCB’s website, or by calling 888-456-HOPE (4673).
Voices for Life 