No, I’m not referring to the radical leftist thugs who’ve been causing mayhem in recent times.

I’m referring to the pro-life activists who on Sept. 15 participated in peaceful “rescues” at three abortion facilities nationwide: one in Virginia, one in Michigan, and one in New Mexico.

From LifeSiteNews.com:

Six pro-life activists, including two priests who were arrested at a Virginia abortion facility this morning [Sept. 15] attempting to persuade women to choose life for their babies, have been released on their own recognizance….

Joan Andrews Bell, Joan McKee, Julia Haag, Bonnie Borel-Donohue, Franciscan Father of the Renewal Fr. Fidelis Moscinski, and Fr. Stephen Imbarrato were arrested at the Alexandria Women’s Health Clinic in Alexandria at 10:30 Friday morning and released at 4:30 p.m.

Monica Migliorino Miller, Will Goodman, Abby McIntyre and Matthew Connolly were arrested at the Northland Family Planning in Sterling Heights, a suburb of Detroit….

All the pro-life activists who took part in the Red Rose Rescue passively resisted arrest.

“Rescues” were somewhat popular among pro-life activists in the 1980s and early 1990s. That lasted until pro-abortion President Bill Clinton signed into law the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act in 1994, after which such protests withered due in large part to much stiffer penalties for those prosecuted under the new law.

The “rescues” done Sept. 15 did not involve blocking entrances; instead, participants approached the facilities’ patrons to talk to them and offer them pro-life information. Such interactions do not constitute harassment unless the individuals approached decline the information and the information-provider refuses to take no for an answer.  

Granted, it isn’t necessary for pro-lifers to protest the evil of abortion by getting arrested. However, I commend these activists for their witness. All are firmly committed to the pro-life cause and believe in non-violent protest.  

I also commend those who work in any aspect of the pro-life and pro-family movements, which, of course, do not condone violence and thuggery as a means of exercising our First Amendment rights.