UPDATE, October 16, 2020: All four rescuers who were arrested were subsequently released by 1:00 p.m. Eastern time the same day.
SHREWSBURY, New Jersey, October 14, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – Peaceful pro-lifers have performed another Red Rose Rescue this morning by entering a Planned Parenthood abortion facility and offering help to the mothers inside.
At 9:10 am EST this morning, two veteran pro-lifers, Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, CFR and Joan Andrews Bell, entered the Planned Parenthood in Shrewsbury, NJ.
Once inside, they gently approached mothers seated in the waiting room and offered them red roses as a symbol of life. Attached to each rose was a card that stated on one side “You were made to love and to be loved…your goodness is greater than the difficulties of your situation. Circumstances in life change. A new life, however tiny, brings the promise of unrepeatable job.”
On the other side of the card were the phone numbers of local pregnancy help centers.
When police officers swiftly arrived on the scene, the pro-lifers attempted to continue conversation with women or sat on the floor praying quietly or singing hymns.
The pro-lifers were arrested at 9:35 am EST and driven off.
Shortly afterward, two more rescuers entered the Planned Parenthood facility. Will Goodman and Matthew Connolly walked in at 9:55 am EST, in order to pray and counsel mothers.
They were arrested only ten minutes later. At one point there were twelve police officers on the scene.
However, as a result of the Red Rose Rescue, all appointments at the facility were rescheduled; today is the day on which the abortion pills are normally given out to mothers.
Dr. Monica Migliorino Miller, director of the Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, gave a statement regarding the rescue: “The Red Rose Rescue in Shrewsbury is a true defense of the unborn about to be put to death – but the goal is to also reach out to the mothers who are inside the abortion center, to talk to them, offer them words of encouragement to give life to their unborn children and offer them real practical material help. This is why the rescuers go into the abortion center. We go where the women are! They have passed by the sidewalk counsellors but the Red Rose Rescuers simply go that one extra step before it is too late.”
Miller continued: “But should the women still not choose to give life – the rescuers will stay in the clinic, sit there peacefully praying and singing hymns and continuing to reach out to the mothers. We know from experience that as long as there is a pro-life presence inside the abortion centers the killing is halted. The unborn deserve at least this much defense.”
This marks the second Red Rose Rescue to take place at a Planned Parenthood abortion facility and is also the seventeenth rescue in the United States since September 2017.
Whilst rescuers have been arrested in the past, to date, none of the Red Rose Rescue volunteers have been charged under the Federal Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), which prohibits pro-lifers from physically obstructing entrances to abortion mills.