(LifeSiteNews) — After a Red Rose Rescue team entered a Pennsylvania abortion clinic on Thursday to persuade expectant mothers to keep their unborn babies, something extraordinary occurred: the staff shut down the operation for the day. Not a single abortion was initiated.
Several Red Rose Rescuers (RRR) went to the Delaware County Women’s Center in Chester, Pennsylvania, on July 31. The center deals solely in chemical, non-surgical abortions.
Eight pregnant women showed up to begin the process of chemical abortion that day.
“We had access to all the moms as they came into the elevators,” where pairs of pro-life counselors were stationed, explained Monica Migliorino Miller, Ph. D., director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society. “That was the first attempt to talk to them. Once they got into the abortion center, we sat next to the moms in the waiting room and tried to talk to them and encourage them to keep their babies.”
Inside the center’s waiting room the rescuers observed propaganda signs which read “Abortion is Normal,” with smaller print: “Abortion is Freedom, Abortion Is Healthcare, Abortion is for Every (Body)” with another sign stating: “Every Woman Who Has Had an Abortion is Loved by Someone.”
Miller told LifeSiteNews that during their 90 minutes in the abortion center, they had a lot of interaction with the staff, including conversations about abortion: “You have an obligation to tell every woman who comes here for her pill, chemical abortion, that this procedure could be reversed. If they don’t take the second pill within 72 hours. They could go to a doctor who can reverse the effects of the first pill.”
“They didn’t argue back,” said Miller. “I’m wondering if maybe we gave them something to think about.”
“I’ve taken the remains of aborted babies out of the trash,” explained Miller with one of the center’s workers. “We’re talking about the crushed and dismembered bodies of other human beings. This is violence. This is an injustice.”
“All she could do was listen to me,” said Miller. “We witness to the sanctity of life, and what we do to help moms who turn away.”
Meanwhile, according to Miller, “something amazing happened.”
Staff announced over the intercom that the clinic was being shut down early and that the pregnant women would have to reschedule their appointments.
“Every single mom walked out of the clinic,” said Miller. “For a Red Rose Rescue – or for anybody involved in any rescue or doing sidewalk counseling – that is a huge victory!” declared Miller.
“Every single mom had to leave the abortion center that day with their unborn child still alive,” reiterated Miller.
“Each of these babies received a reprieve from their scheduled executions,” said Miller, “and it gave those eight women an opportunity to reconsider what they were going to do.”
Six Red Rose Rescuers were arrested by local law enforcement – Monica Miller, Joan Andrews Bell, Will Goodman, Patty Woodworth, Eric Holmberg, and ChristyAnne Collins – and charged with “disorderly conduct” and “defiant trespass.” A magistrate set their bond at $20,000 each, an unusually high amount.
Miller told LifeSiteNews that the group was “defiant” only insomuch as they refused to obey the officers demand that they leave the abortion center.
“As long as unborn children are going to be put to death in this abortion center, we can’t leave,” they told the officer. “We have to stay with the unwanted.”
Miller explained to the officers that this is an important part of the philosophy behind RRRs. “We stay with the unwanted. We have to be taken away. We can’t just leave them.”
By Sunday, all but Bell had been released after paying 10 percent of the bond amount. Bell chose to wait and remain incarcerated because she wanted to make sure that whatever amount was paid on her behalf would not end up being used for objectionable purposes by the state.
As of this writing, according to Chris Bell, Joan’s husband, her bond has now been paid and she is awaiting her release.
Red Rose Rescuers have faced incarceration many times over the years.
“This is the sacrifice that needs to be made in order to peacefully and lovingly defend unborn children from abortion and to reach out to their moms,” said Miller. “This is the only way to have access to these moms.”
“Please pray that the moms who were sent home by the abortion center change their minds,” she added.
