Young Canadian pro-lifer arrested outside Toronto abortion facility
(Note: This is an eyewitness account of Mary Wagner’s arrest by friend of Mary and pro-life activist, John Bulsza.)
November 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Yesterday, November 21, 2010, Mary Wagner, a citizen from British Columbia, was arrested at Women’s Care Abortion Clinic at 960 Lawrence Street, West in Toronto. Her court appearance is scheduled for today, Tuesday, Nov. 23, at College Park courts, at 10:00 am. Mary was acquitted in July of a previous arrest in April of this year at a different abortion clinic in Toronto. She was incarcerated for nearly four months at the Milton Vanier Centre for Women.
Mary entered the building the houses the abortion clinic at approximately 9:00 am. Mary’s desire was to be with the women who went there to abort their children, to let them know that they had not been forgotten, nor their babies, and to encourage them to reconsider their decisions.
Mary brought with her a dozen pairs of red and white long stem roses, each with an attached religious Marian medallion and a card addressed to the women with a message of love, some factual details of the early stages of development, an image of a first trimester developing baby, and hot-line phone numbers for pro-life counseling assistance. These roses and medallions were blessed by the priest who presided at a mass just an hour earlier at the nearby church. The roses symbolize the expression of love and peace, the unity meant by God to exist between the mother and child, and the love of Christ as seen through the two rays in the image of Divine Mercy.
Mary’s support team of Wilma Debruyn of Ingersol and myself of London (and many others behind the scenes) provided sidewalk counseling to the women and some of their partners who were entering from the street and pamphlets were distributed.
Approximately one hour later Mary was arrested with a trespassing charge and was released, but not without some rough handling by the two officers, who forced Mary against her will to walk towards us who were on the sidewalk. Their intentions seemed to be good however, wanting to spare Mary a second arrest with the greater consequence of a possible charge of criminal harassment.
At one point Mary was in tears because she felt she was abandoning the women and their pre-born babies. At one point Mary was with us for a brief few minutes and Wilma noted, in a later reflection on the morning, Mary’s passion for the pre-born: “She is really following her call. She is passionate with them [the pre-born babies]”. Quoting Mary she said: “I have to go back to save the babies, I feel my heart is still with them, I have to go back.”
After considering her options with us, Mary returned to the building while in the process of counseling a mother and her partner who was pushing a stroller with a nine-month-old child inside. She was successful in turning back the couple, but not before being arrested again. While Mary was in the police cruiser, sadly the couple returned to the clinic. The two of us on the sidewalk just couldn’t convince the couple with their young child not to return to the clinic. We prayed fervently that they would change their minds. Their fate is unknown.
In between arrests, during the few minutes Mary had with us, she reported to us that at least one woman had turned back from the clinic after her counseling. There may have been others too.
What is the price of one’s life? How much is a life worth? For any child saved by Mary’s actions, and any mother’s conscience being spared the memory of an abortion, it is the price of her freedom, and time spent in jail! God bless you Mary. Thank you for your great sacrifice for the pre-born, their mothers and their significant others. Thank you for being a shining example to us of the kind of love Christ gave to us – his cross, and his resurrection!
