There\u2019s an \u2063old saying \u2064in the\u200d pro-life movement<\/a>: “If abortion\u2062 is\u2062 murder, act like\u2064 it.” This catchy phrase is meant to inspire people to take action and \u200dprevent the killing of unborn babies.<\/p>\n

Recently, Lauren Muzyka \u2063wrote an article for The Federalist titled “How To\u2063 Sidewalk Counsel Abortion-Minded \u2063Moms\u2064 Without\u2063 Going To Prison.”<\/a> In her piece, she harshly criticizes pro-life rescues and compares them to the counseling method advocated by Sidewalk Advocates for Life<\/a>, a ministry that I personally admire and support.<\/p>\n

I have a unique perspective\u200c on pro-life rescues\u2063 and rescuers. Since 1978, \u200dI have \u2064spent countless hours counseling women on the sidewalk, urging them not to have abortions. I have\u2062 also organized and \u200bparticipated\u200c in numerous pro-life rescues, and even\u2064 served a short jail term just last \u2064April for a Red\u200b Rose\u2063 Rescue at an abortion center in Michigan in\u200b 2022. Through my experiences, I have come to \u200cappreciate\u2063 the value of both sidewalk counseling\u2064 and abortion rescues\u200c at the \u200cplaces where unborn lives are scheduled \u2064to be ended.<\/p>\n

What Is an Abortion Rescue?<\/h2>\n
In the mid-1970s, the pro-life rescue movement emerged \u200bas a nonviolent defense of the unborn. Leaders \u2064like John Kavanaugh-O\u2019Keefe and Joan \u200bAndrews Bell, who were active in the anti-war movement<\/a>, pioneered this approach. Rescuers would sit or stand in front of abortion\u200c centers, \u200csometimes even chaining themselves to objects to prevent\u200b removal.<\/p>\n
Operation Rescue, founded in the late 1980s, became the largest nonviolent civil\u2062 disobedience movement in American history, \u200dresulting \u2064in the arrest of tens \u200cof \u200cthousands of pro-lifers. However, the passage of the Freedom of \u2064Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) in 1994 nearly halted these activities, as it made sit-in-type protests a federal crime. Despite \u2063this, Operation Save America<\/a> has continued to \u200dconduct rescues in recent\u2062 years. In fact, just on Feb. 1, 2024, six pro-lifers<\/a> were convicted of\u2064 violating the FACE Act.<\/p>\n
In 2017, a new \u200drescue method called Red Rose Rescues<\/a> was introduced. This approach combines the \u200cbest of sidewalk counseling and defense of the unborn. Red Rose Rescuers do not physically obstruct anyone or anything, \u2062so\u200d they are not subject to the FACE\u200c Act. Instead,\u2063 a \u200csmall group of pro-lifers quietly enters \u200cthe abortion facility, sits down next to women in the waiting\u2063 room,\u2063 and counsels them to choose \u2062life. They offer roses as a \u200dsymbol of life and hope, and often both the women and the staff accept the \u2064roses.<\/p>\n
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How do rescues serve\u2063 as a last line of defense for \u200cbabies scheduled\u2064 for \u200dabortion?<\/h2>\n Title: \u200bThe Value of Abortion Rescues:\u200b A Powerful Witness for \u2064Life<\/p>\nIntroduction:<\/p>\n