How An MLB Pitcher And Gun Rights Lobbyist Are Teaming Up To Abolish Abortion… One State At A Time

Since 1973, Americans have murdered roughly 63 million preborn babies. Over the past five decades, the pro-life movement has attempted to curtail abortion through an incremental approach — regulating the lethal procedure via gestational age restrictions, “born-alive” protection acts, and various medical ordinances for abortion clinics. By doing so, pro-life groups leave entire subsets of preborn babies unprotected for the sake of political expediency.

Today, however, calls are growing for a paradigm shift away from incrementalism and toward immediatism — the complete and total abolition of abortion, without exception or compromise. Among the organizations calling for such an approach is Action for Life — the legislative arm of the Christian ministry End Abortion Now.

Dennis Sarfate — the president of Action for Life — is a former MLB pitcher who played for the Milwaukee Brewers, Houston Astros, and Baltimore Orioles before becoming a five-time Japan Series Champion. Zach Lautenschlager — the vice president of Action for Life — is a professional political operative who was instrumental in passing “constitutional carry” laws across the United States. 

In an interview with The Daily Wire, Sarfate and Lautenschlager explained how they were brought together by their desire to glorify Jesus Christ while establishing equal protection for the preborn — one state at a time.

‘God Just Wrecked Me’

Sarfate and Lautenschlager had drastically different experiences in coming to faith.

On one hand, Lautenschlager grew up in a multi-generational Christian home. “My folks taught me who Jesus was from the very start. What blows me away every day is how sinful I am in myself, and how gracious God is despite my sin… I’m still a sinful, fallen human being, and God’s grace is so massive, so huge, and His loving kindness is so amazing. The older I get, the more I see it.”

Sarfate, on the other hand, was not saved until his adulthood. “I grew up playing baseball my whole life… When I got drafted the second time, I wasn’t a believer. I was actually raised in a Catholic church — just dabbled in it every once in a while when I felt like I needed some kind of good luck. Even in the big leagues, I would go to chapel on Sundays — thinking that if I did that, God would definitely bless me with a scoreless inning.”

“It wasn’t until I left the United States and went to Japan that God just wrecked me and saved me from my sin,” Sarfate continued. “He allowed my heart to be changed — and that was in 2011… I was in an atheistic country with no Christian teammates, so I was off to fend for myself and study on my own and be held accountable by literally no one. I didn’t even have a church back at home.”

Eventually, Sarfate was introduced to Apologia Church in Phoenix, Arizona, where Jeff Durbin — who leads End Abortion Now — serves as the teaching pastor. Sarfate and his family spent three years serving with the organization; however, abortion ministry had been “near and dear” to their lives for far longer.

“My wife was adopted. She was adopted through a one-night stand at a truck stop in Yuma, Arizona,” said Sarfate. “Her parents that adopted her were not Christians; they just couldn’t have kids, so they adopted her. She got saved first. God used her to bring them to Him when she was in high school.”

“When I met her, I was not a believer. She was part of my walk and coming to Christ,” he continued. “And I was able to share the gospel in Japan for ten years — all because one woman chose life in 1982 and did the right thing, the hard thing. Her case is what everyone uses birth control for — they use abortion as birth control now.”

“Her birth mom never met her and never will probably meet her. She chose life, and what God has used from this little girl and the people that have come to Christ through her — and the Japanese people that I’ll see in heaven one day — is just an amazing story.”

Sarfate was injured in 2018 — the year after he was the MVP of the Japan World Series — which led to him joining Action for Life on a full-time basis. “Jeff came to me knowing that my career was coming to an end and said, ‘You want to save babies some more?’ And I said, ‘Of course.’ What he had for me was that we’re going to do legislation now.”

At this point, Sarfate met Lautenschlager through a two-day Christian political leadership class at Apologia Church. Indeed, the Lautenschlager family — descended from John Hart, a Founding Father who signed the Declaration of Independence — has been passing down expertise about the American political system for generations.

“I got involved in politics when my

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