Arriving at the abortion center at 8 am, pro-abortion escorts were already there standing in front of the Planned Parenthood entrance in an effort to thwart the pro-lifers from blocking the doors. However, the pro-lifers simply placed themselves in front of the escorts. Unfortunately, two women managed to gain entry into the Planned Parenthood facility.
Tennessee is a state that protects unborn children, making abortion on demand illegal and the commission of elective abortion procedures a felony offense for abortion practitioners. Thus the remaining abortion centers, such as the Memphis Planned Parenthood, facilitate abortions by transferring women across state lines, to states where abortion is accessible.
Several Memphis police officers eventually arrived, gave a warning to the assembled pro-lifers that they were trespassing on private property, and ordered them to disperse. Some of the pro-lifers did so, while 17 others remained blocking the door in defense of the unborn, including pro-life leader Monica Migliorino Miller of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, Melanie Salazar of Pro-Life San Francisco, Terrisa Bukovanic of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, well-known pro-life rescuer Joan Andrews Bell, as well as Randall Terry.
The 17 were placed under arrest and transported to the Shelby County jail, the men and women in separate facilities. They were charged with state misdemeanors of trespass and disorderly conduct. Migliorino Miller, a veteran rescuer, described the prison in which the seven women spent the night as “the jail from Hell.” The experience for the men was even worse. No jail cells, no bedding, no mattresses. They spent the night forced to sleep in hard, plastic chairs in a room filled with 70 other inmates, four times crammed into holding cells for various odd protocols demanded by the surly female prison guards, whose demeanor could only be described as juvenile.
Inmates subjected to R-rated movies filled with the F word, the characters in the movies committing crimes more despicable than any of the inmates in this ill-managed excuse for a jail. Some local inmates had to endure days of sleep deprivation due to only hard plastic chairs on which they may catch some sleep, including the few inmates who were pregnant.
However, for the pro-lifers, there were blessings as well, as they used the opportunity to minister to their fellow inmates, prayed with them, counseled them, evangelized them and received incredible respect from them. Indeed, when the male pro-lifers were finally released after three days of incarceration, they received warm applause from the other inmates.
Migliorino Miller was represented by attorney Martin Cannon, who was assisted by attorney Steve Crampton of the Thomas More Society.
The attorneys entered into intense negotiation with Shelby County District Attorney Cody Tolbert.
Indeed, all charges were dropped for four of the pro-lifers, two of them because the judges to whom they initially appeared where irritated at the unprofessional, sloppy manner in which the complaints against them had been written! Two others had charges dismissed simply because, due to health issues, they were unable to attend the scheduled February 3rd hearing! This left 13 remaining pro-life defendants.
Due to the prosecutor’s willingness to negotiate, he agreed to drop the disorderly conduct charge and also agreed to accept a “no contest” plea for all defendants giving them time served – no fines, no probation, no community service. The pro-lifers agreed to the “no contest” plea and without any admission of guilt. On February 3rd, the 13 pro-lifers appeared before Judge Taylor Bachelor in General Sessions Court Number 7, accompanied by attorneys Cannon and Crampton. She agreed to accept the “no contest” plea with time served, with no additional penalties, though, as expected, rendering a guilty verdict. Every defendant had the right to address the court. It was decided that, out of respect for the judge’s time, Migliorino Miller would speak for all of the defendants. The judge appeared to listen intensely while Miller delivered the following statement:
Dr. Monica Miller – Statement at court Feb. 3, 2026:
“Speaking on behalf of my friends, your Honor, I will be brief. I’m probably one of 50 people literally in the whole world that has actually taken the bodies of aborted babies out abortion center trash containers and trash dumpsters, thousands of them, from six weeks to seven months. There is another defendant here, Terrisa who has had a similar experience. So we know very personally the violence of abortion, to see the crushed dismembered, broken bodies of these aborted babies. I’ve looked at things that the human eye is not supposed to see.
So when we went to the Planned Parenthood on December 5th, we wanted to spare the children who were going to be trafficked across state lines, to spare them a similar fate. We also wanted to help the moms. At this point, I will have actually been in the pro-life movement this year, 50 years. I’ve helped a lot of moms choose life. So you have to offer them practical help, love, compassion, and understanding for their circumstances, to give them hope in the circumstances. And we wanted to do that also when we went to that Planned Parenthood.
All of us here want to cultivate a culture that accepts everyone, embraces everyone and to push out the boundaries of justice and inclusion that includes unborn children, who are right now an oppressed class, certainly depending on what state you live in. So I think that really is all I want to say your Honor. I appreciate you listening to me and I ask God to bless you.”
With that, the 13 pro-lifers were free to go and filed out of court into the hallway. Soon they were joined by attorneys Cannon and Crampton. Cannon said he had had some final words with the judge and he announced that she said to him regarding Miller’s statement: “That was moving, profound and everyone should hear it.” The pro-lifers were jubilant to have received such a response and felt it was in a sense vindication for their efforts to defend the unborn.
For more information see www.rescueresurrection.com
