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WASHINGTON, D.C., December 20, 2018 (LifeSiteNews) – A small group of pro-life activists has entered and is currently inside Washington Surgi-Clinic, an abortion mill in the nation’s capital, risking arrest to offer help to the abortion-minded mothers inside.

Their mission? A last show of solidarity, welcome, and love to the unborn children in the wombs of their desperate mothers. They seek to offer hope, encouragement, and support in the form of words, prayers, and red roses.

Washington Surgi-Clinic, whose abortionist is Cesare F. Santangelo, is just steps away from George Washington University. Santangelo commits late-term abortions.

Father Stephen Imbarrato, the leader of this Red Rose Rescue and a regular on EWTN, has been arrested at previous Red Rose Rescues attempting to minister to mothers seeking abortions. In anticipation of an arrest this morning, he sat down with LifeSiteNews (LSN) for an exclusive interview.

LSN: Father, it’s almost Christmas and you’re likely to be arrested in your attempt at saving lives. Why was choosing this day to return to this mission so important to you?

Doing a Red Rose Rescue near Christmas makes perfect sense considering that we are reflecting in this season of Our Savior being in His mother’s womb in anticipation of His birth. All children are conceived in the image and likeness of God. All children deserve to be born.

LSN: Who else is joining you today?

Linda Mueller, who has done one rescue before, and another woman who has done rescues many years ago who chooses not to be named [publicly].

LSN: Do you have a request for those active in the pro-life movement?

Please pray for those who do these Red Rose Rescues and please encourage them. With more and more abortion facilities like Surgi [Clinic] being hidden within multi-unit professional [buildings], we cannot abandon these babies and moms just because we can not identify them and access them from the streets. In circumstances like this where there is no sidewalk access, we must do what we can to try and save these babies and help these moms. We can access them and counsel them in the waiting rooms.

LSN: Do you have a message to priests and bishops at this time of peril in the Church?

Please never be silent. As St. John Paul II tells us in Evangelium Vitae, we must proclaim the gospel of life in season and out of season. Let all clergy be voices for the babies.

LSN: Would you mind sharing any special intentions you will pray on during your time in the clinic, and later – if you are arrested?

My intentions always include the end of the government sanctioned, government protected (by the courts), government funded (with our taxes) mass murder of the pre-born.

LSN: If President Trump was to read this, what would you have him know?

Mr. President, you can end this. Sign the Personhood Proclamation Presidential Executive Order. Recognize what we all know. Our babies are Constitutional Persons from fertilization and their mass murder is a Constitutional Crisis that you can end.

LSN: Do you have a special message to those considering abortions right now?

Please think about how beautiful your little boy or little girl is and what will happen to your baby if you don’t protect them. Please also think about how much joy babies bring into the world. Regardless of your situation, there are many people who will help you and your baby overcome the problems you face. Love your baby.

In a press release this morning, Lauren Handy of the Red Rose Rescues explained why pro-lifers chose to enter this abortion mill:

Washington Surgi-Clinic is one of the 19 abortion facilities in the DC metropolitan area. Known for providing late-term abortions, Cesare F. Santangelo has a history of medical malpractice. Court documents obtained by Operation Rescue showed a 2011 medical malpractice/wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family of a women who died during an abortion.

A 2013 uncover video from Live Action showed that Santangelo [was willing to leave] a baby struggling for life to die after a failed abortion. “Hopefully we’ll get this pregnancy out intact, but it doesn’t always happen that way,” Santangelo [told] an undercover Live Action investigator who [was] 24 weeks pregnant. “I try and sever the umbilical cord first, and we wait for that to stop pulsing, and this way the fetus is expired first.”

“Many abortion facilities are now located in multi-unit buildings in which the moms are not identifiable or accessible to sidewalk counseling. We are not going to abandon these moms and babies because we can’t counsel them outside the building. It is absolutely moral, right, and just…indeed necessary to peacefully enter these waiting rooms trying to save these babies and help these moms,” said Imbarrato. “Lack of outside access should never stop us from trying to save babies and help pregnant moms.”

LifeSiteNews will keep readers informed on the status of Fr. Imbarrato and those who attempted to save the lives of unborn children during this latest rescue. 

This is a developing story.