WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — People from as far away as California and Georgia came to the nation’s capital this morning to plead with the Trump administration to ban the abortion pill, which is now easily available by mail and has led to an increase of abortions following the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade.
In the shadow of the U.S. Capitol dome, about 20 persons were arrested by United States Capitol Police outside Health and Human Services (HHS) headquarters. Some of them had been incarcerated under the FACE Act by the Biden Justice Department (DOJ) and pardoned by President Trump.
In a shocking scene, elderly pro-life icon Joan Andrews Bell was seen kneeling and praying the Rosary before a group of police carried her out of the street and cuffed her even as she still gripped her rosary.
“The chemical abortion pill has become the chemical coathanger, and the bathroom has become the new back alley,” said Emily Berning, president of Let Them Live, an organization that provides much-needed financial support to women so they can choose life instead of an abortion.
“The abortion pill is twenty-two times more dangerous than the FDA told the American people,” Berning told LifeSiteNews. “When the truth is buried, women are the ones who bleed in silence. And that is why we’re standing here outside HHS. HHS is not a bystander in this. HHS has the authority to regulate and the power to act, [yet] they still have allowed a dangerous drug to remain on the market … with fewer safeguards than basic over-the-counter medication.”
“Let’s be clear about what we’re asking for. Not another study, not another warning label, and no more talking points,” said Berning. “I am calling on HHS to ban the abortion pill and at the very least regulate it so that women have to see a doctor in person before they can obtain the dangerous pills.”
“We’re here to bring a message to the administration, to President Trump, Vice President Vance, Secretary Kennedy, and Commissioner Makary that the abortion drug must get out of the mail,” Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of SBA Pro-Life America, told LifeSiteNews as the peaceful rally began.
“President Trump, we love you, we appreciate what you’ve done for the pro-life movement. It’s time to catch up to where your voters are,” said Dannenfelser. “Save hundreds of thousands of children,” she pleaded, “and protect women from coercion.”
Fr. Fidelis Moscinski said that the government must immediately ban the abortion pill.
“It doesn’t bring health, it brings death. It’s not part of ‘Human Services,’” said Fr. Fidelis as he stood in front of the HHS headquarters. Rather, “it’s part of human destruction.”
Protest organizer Randall Terry explained that when Bill Clinton signed the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act into law, it broke the back of the mighty anti-abortion movement that had swept the nation thanks in large part to Operation Rescue, which Terry founded.
As founder of Operation Rescue in the mid-1980s, Terry and others were able to drive abortion from being a non-issue in the public’s mind to becoming the number one issue facing voters.
But the FACE Act proved devastating to the movement. Three decades later, the pro-life movement is both “anemic” and “tame” according to Terry, “It’s a toothless tiger, it’s letterhead, it’s a fundraising machine.”
“For the love of God, we have got to sacrifice,” thundered Terry, “and act like these are real human beings that are dying.”
“If abortion is murder, let’s act like it’s murder.”
“We must have a reaction that is equal to the crime [that is being committed].”
“Remember this day,” adjured Terry. “You will see hundreds and then thousands of people take to the street and say, ‘End this godless genocide forever!’”
Following the speakers’ remarks, they marched ceremoniously singing “We Shall Overcome” before sitting down and blocking Washington Avenue at the corner of Independence Avenue.
Pro-life Monica Miller said that today’s protest was necessary because the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson decision did not go far enough. “The ruling did not defend the unborn as persons with the right to exist under the Fourteenth Amendment.”
“We are living in a holocaust — thousands of unborn children are murdered every month,” said Miller. “We must stand up and not be afraid.”
“We need to move President Trump closer and closer to a real pro-life position,” she told LifeSiteNews.
