Hobby Lobby’s Lauren McAfee Founds Pro-Life Group
By Movieguide® Contributor
Lauren McAfee, founder of Stand for Life and director of ministry for Hobby Lobby, is sharing about her family’s work to combat the Affordable Care Act’s birth control mandate.
“We believe what the Bible teaches that all life is valuable and that life has dignity and that includes life in the womb — and so it is not okay to take the life of an innocent child in the womb,” she explained. “So because of our convictions, we had to face this decision of what are we going to do.”
She continued, “If we are out of compliance with that [rule], the government would fine the company…over a million dollars a day. So not sustainable — a day, not a year — a million dollars a day. And that was the reality. We could either comply with this mandate or fight…”
Hobby Lobby took their case to the Supreme Court and won by just one vote. This experience led McAfee, the granddaughter of Hobby Lobby’s founder, to get more involved in pro-life work, including Stand for Life.
“A new organization that grew out of an alliance of more than 100 pro-life groups has launched with a Southern Baptist entity providing a vital contribution,” Baptist Press reported. “Stand for Life became a separate organization at the start of 2023 with the purpose of uniting the pro-life movement to establish a culture that affirms every human being, including the preborn child, is made in the image of God. It also seeks to strengthen support for women who experience unexpected pregnancies.”
McAfee also spoke about her own motherhood journey, which included infertility struggles and adoption.
She and her husband, Michael, adopted a daughter, Zion, and attempted to adopt a son, Ezra. However, after one year with Ezra, the couple was forced to give him to a biological family member.
“I had to explain to Zion… that she had to say goodbye forever to her brother and that we had to hand him over and never see him again,” McAfee shared. “And so two hours later that’s what we did. We handed him off to the family member that was going to be taking him, who we didn’t know, and just pray that he would be cared for. And we have not seen him or heard about him since.”
The couple have since adopted another daughter, Zara.
“Born the morning of Jan 7, and entering our orbit later that same day, we are profoundly grateful for the blessing we have to be her parents,” McAfee wrote on Instagram about Zara’s adoption. “Since losing Ezra, Zion has prayed daily for ‘two new babies to come quickly and stay forever,’ so she is thrilled to have at least part of her prayer now answered with a sister.”
McAfee also talked about Zion’s cancer diagnosis. Movieguide® previously reported:
Earlier today, we asked for you to pray for baby Zion McAfee, the granddaughter of Hobby Lobby President Steve Green.
Zion is the adopted daughter of Green’s daughter Lauren McAfee and her husband, Michael.
Michael just shared this update on his social media:
Zion’s surgery was a success!!!!! 🙏🏼🙌🏼😭 they said it could not have gone better. They were able to COMPLETELY remove the tumor. We heard yesterday nearly every patient needs chemo for this type of cancer. We will know for sure Friday, but the surgeon indicated there is a chance she will not need ANY chemo. We won’t know results for certain until Friday, but all the early indications are surprisingly good!
Thank you for your prayers! This has been the longest/worst week of our lives and the amount of support and encouragement from everyone from family and friends to people we’ve never met who have reached out has been overwhelming.
