Tara and I met at a Bible College in Texas where God gave us a heart for the mission field. Tara spent a year in Nottingham, England and I (Bud) was ordained and graduated in 2003 with a degree in Missions. I spent an additional 6 months in an Advanced Missions program where my concentration was on “domestic” missions. Tara and I married shortly after Tara returned from England and since then we have worked in full-time pastoral ministry, traveled the country for a year with Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust visiting over 180 high schools and colleges across the country educating our peers about the injustice of abortion, and spent a year in Wichita, Kansas as interns for Operation Rescue (OR) where we learned the most effective and proven strategies for ending abortion! After our year as interns for OR our mission field became Albuquerque, New Mexico due to the fact that our research revealed that it was…the Abortion Capital of the Southwest and the Late-Term Abortion Capital of America.
We moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2010 (by invitation of Project Defending Life) to expose and fight the radical abortion agenda entrenched in this state. As Pro-Life missionaries, we have redefined the “American Mission Field” by moving to Albuquerque one of the darkest cities in our country, a city WORLD Magazine labeled, “New Mexico’s city of death” to proclaim the power of the risen savior, Jesus Christ, and end Abortion…our generation’s greatest injustice!
Our tireless work, groundbreaking research, and implementation of proven strategies has launched Albuquerque, New Mexico into the national spotlight!
Our efforts as Pro-Life Missionaries have been featured in virtually EVERY major news source in the country:
CNN, Albuquerque: New path for abortion opponents
MSNBC, The new frontier of the abortion wars
The Associated Press (AP), Albuquerque vote targets late-term abortion clinic
The New York Times, Albuquerque Becomes Latest Focal Point in Abortion Wars
The Washington Times, Abortion battle goes local in New Mexico as Albuquerque votes on 20-week ban
Los Angeles Times, Albuquerque becomes latest abortion battlefield
TIME, Albuquerque Abortion Battle Gains National Attention
Bloomberg, Abortion Battle Goes Local From Fairfax to Albuquerque
Talking Points Memo, Albuquerque’s Anti-Abortion Activists Unfazed After 20-Week Ban Defeat
The Associated Press (AP), Anti-abortion groups to fight on after NM defeat
The Wall Street Journal, Albuquerque Voters Reject Bid to Ban Late-Term Abortions
VICE- The New Face of the Anti-Abortion Movement
National Review, Defending Life in the Desert: The fight against late-term abortions is being pursued on the local level in Albuquerque.
WORLD Magazine, New Mexico’s ‘dirty little secret’
BREITBART: NM Gov. Susana Martinez’s Campaign Strategist Calls Pro-Life Activists ‘Pieces of S***’
ASSOCIATED PRESS: Abortion protesters target GOP Gov. Martinez
(These articles don’t even begin to scratch the surface…for more news coverage check out our, “In the News” page)
Research about abortion abuses in New Mexico, by Tara Shaver: Important Facts about Abortion in New Mexico and Abortion Abuses
Since moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 2010 our work has consistently led national Pro-Life efforts in 2011, 2012, 2013:
Top Ten Victories of 2011: #3 New Mexico Abortion Cartel Exposed
After the closure of the late-term abortion clinic in Wichita, KS, Operation Rescue learned that two of the abortionists from the Kansas clinic were relocating to Albuquerque, New Mexico. Two of our interns, Bud and Tara Shaver, felt the call of God to move to Albuquerque and work to stop abortions there. The Shavers now work with Project Defending Life, a group that works in cooperation with Operation Rescue to expose abortion abuses in New Mexico.
Together, the groups uncovered and exposed a series of 911 calls that were evidence of life-threatening abortion complications at two Albuquerque abortion clinics. Complaints were filed with the Medical Board and the investigation into these unsafe clinics is progressing. In addition, the role of the University of New Mexico in the abortion industry has been fully documented, and efforts are underway to convince the UNM Regents to cease all participation in abortion and abortion training.
Year in Review: Top Ten Victories from 2012
Shelley Sella, faced a disciplinary hearing before the New Mexico Medical Board in November for gross negligence in a 35 week abortion where Sella overused uterine contracting drugs on a woman with a history of a previous Caesarian Section, resulting in a ruptured uterus. Sella faces possible license revocation. The injury was discovered when former OR intern Tara Shaver obtained the 911 call records. OR and Mrs. Shaver filed complaints resulting in the Board action.
2013: Bud and Tara Shaver Named Operation Rescue’s 2013 Pro-Life Persons of the Year
Albuquerque, NM – Pro-life missionaries Bud and Tara Shaver, of Project Defending Life in Albuquerque, New Mexico, have been named as recipients of the 2013 Pro-life Person of the Year Malachi Award in recognition of their outstanding work in bringing the matter of late-term abortions into the national spotlight.
After an internship with Operation Rescue, the Shavers moved to Albuquerque in 2010 to expose late-term abortions at Southwestern Women’s Options, one of the few abortion clinics in the nation that openly conduct abortions throughout the full nine months of pregnancy.
Tara’s ground-breaking research documented evidence of numerous life-threatening abortion emergencies and other abuses at that late-term abortion facility. She also uncovered that state taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for late-term procedures at the cost of thousands of dollars each.
Information gathered by the Shavers became the basis of a citizen’s petition to amend the City of Albuquerque’s charter to ban abortions after 20 weeks gestation, when babies are known to feel pain. That initiative was the first-ever attempt to ban an abortion procedure at the municipal level. Tara and Bud Shaver spearheaded a grass roots signature drive that garnered a record 27,000 in just 20 days to place the late-term abortion ban on the ballot, then established a Political Action Committee that campaigned in favor of it.
While the Albuquerque Pain Capable Unborn Child Protection Ordinance failed to pass during a November 19 city-wide vote, the Shavers, who served as national media spokespersons for the effort, contributed significantly to an increased awareness of late-term abortions in New Mexico an across the nation.
The Malachi Award is given by Operation Rescue every year to recognize individuals who sacrificially work to advance the cause of protecting the pre-born.
2014: Group launches new anti-abortion campaign (KOB Eyewitness News 4): Protest ABQ www.protestABQ.com
“As we move forward in Albuquerque, we realize that abortion will end in our city and state, when hearts are touched and minds are changed concerning the killing of the most innocent and defenseless children in our state, those in the womb. PROTEST ABQ is a way to raise this public awareness. If we accomplish nothing else, we must succeed in protesting the evil of our generation…legalized child killing,” stated Bud Shaver, Executive Director at PROTEST ABQ.
Protest ABQ is already making an impact both locally and nationally! To read (and) watch news coverage, click here: Protest ABQ: “In The News”
Please keep our efforts in your prayers and consider supporting our LIFE saving work. Your financial support will keep us in the trenches and make it possible for us to continue our fight for LIFE!
You can make a tax deductible donation online: DONATE ONLINE HERE.
Or make Checks out to Project Defending Life, earmarked: Bud and Tara Shaver
P.O. Box 50351 Albuquerque, NM 87181
