TORONTO, December 12, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) — “This is simply the message of our Lord Jesus through his Cross and the Resurrection, that the grain of wheat must fall to the ground and die — so that it can bear much fruit.”
Mary Wagner wrote those words in a letter of thanks to all supporters following her release in July 2014 after almost two years in prison.
Now Wagner, 43, is back in jail after she was arrested at a northwest Toronto abortion center on Friday, the Catholic feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, while attempting to save women and children from the violence of abortion.
On Friday, Wagner and another woman entered the Women’s Care Clinic, located on the fifth floor of an office building at 960 Lawrence Avenue W., shortly after 9:00 a.m.
She carried red roses. Attached to each was a model of a 10-week-old unborn baby, a card with contact information for the Sisters of Life, and another that read: “You can choose life for your baby. Love will find a way.” Her companion, Immolatia, carried a poster with the same message.
Officers from 32 Division arrived about 1o:30 a.m. in response to calls from the abortion facility, and arrested Wagner inside the waiting room shortly before 11:00 a.m.
She is charged with one count of mischief and two of breach of probation. She declined bail because she refuses to agree to the condition that she stay away from abortion centers.
“People have often asked me if I could not simply stay outside the area I am forbidden to enter, and in that way, avoid arrest,” Wagner wrote in a May 2015 open letter published on the Witness for Church and Pope blog.
“But this question forgets something: the children scheduled to be killed will have no one to stand up for them. We will stop being present to them and to their mothers out of obedience to an immorally imposed restriction by those entrusted with authority,” explained Wagner.
“If we think in terms of getting arrested or not getting arrested, we lose sight of Christ, hidden in: ‘the distressing disguise of the poor’ — those so poor, we cannot even see or hear them.”
Pro-life advocates in the United States have recently adopted Wagner’s modus operandi and have held two days of Red Rose Rescues so far.
On September 15, four people were arrested in Michigan abortion facility, including Monica Migliorino Miller. Six others, including Priest for Life’s Fr. Stephen Imbarrato, Franciscan Friar of the Renewal Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, and Joan Andrews Bell, were arrested at a Virginia abortion facility.
On December 2, Red Rose Rescues took place at Virginia and Washington, D.C. abortion facilities, with three people arrested at each site.
At least two women chose life as a result of the December 2 rescues.
Indeed, among letters written to Justice Rick Libman in defense of Wagner for her last sentencing hearing, several post-abortive women expressed regret that no offered them an 11th hour lifeline of support.
“I know one thing, if I had met a person like Mary Wagner when it was about to happen, my life would have been different,” wrote a 45-year-old woman from the United Kingdom who had three abortions before giving birth to a daughter.
“I hated myself for what I had done … I would like to ask you to consider the fact that women who make that decision are not always convinced if this is the right way to go,” she wrote.
“Let them meet Mary Wagner on their path so that they could rethink their decision,” she pleaded.
A woman from Canada who had an abortion at age 18 echoed this.
“I wish I had a Mary Wagner with me in that waiting room,” she wrote. “I wish someone would have told me that keeping my baby was even an option. I wish someone would have reassured me and provided the support I really needed … This has been the most traumatic event of my life.”
Wagner, who has spent four years and eight months in prison to date, will remain in jail until her trial.
She is scheduled for a preliminary court appearance at 1000 Finch on December 21 via video from Vanier jail.
Those wishing to write Mary Wagner can send letters to: Vanier Center for Women, 655 Martin St., Milton, ON L9T 5E6
Related:
Pro-life activist faced 18 months in jail, but today the judge let her walk free
Catholic priests, activists walk free after trial for pro-life witness inside abortion center
Priest arrested inside abortion center: ‘mass murder’ of unborn must end