Pro-Life Woman Risks Arrest, Enters Abortion Clinic to Pray ... Then, the Unlikeliest Thing Happened

Lianne Laurence : Dec 19, 2016
LifeSiteNews.com

At that point, the young man in the waiting room "pleaded, 'Don't call the police,'" Nanci related. "I said, 'Thank you,' and stayed and prayed the Rosary ... My plan was to stay until closing time."

(Toronto)—[LifeSiteNews] A pro-life woman who entered a Toronto abortion facility this week intending to hand out pro-life cards and pray, amazingly was able to stay for a considerable time praying, avoiding arrest only after a man in the waiting room begged staff not to call the police. Making the event even more unusual is that the abortion facility is the exact same one that pro-life activist Mary Wagner was arrested at this past Monday. (Photo via LifeSiteNews.com)

Nanci, who asked to be identified by her first name only, entered the Bloor West Village Women's Clinic alone just after noon on Wednesday, intending silently to hand out small pictures of unborn children and information cards and to pray the Rosary.

"I don't want to go to prison," Nanci, who is self-employed and engaged to be married, told LifeSiteNews, adding that she knew that by entering the abortion centre she risked arrest.

"My strategy was to raise as little commotion as possible," said the soft-spoken woman, who is slender, of medium height, with a gentle demeanor, pale complexion and expressive blue eyes.

"I haven't done this before ... my heart was just thumping."

She had heard Mary Wagner speak and had been inspired by her example, Nanci told LifeSiteNews during an interview in a coffee shop across from the abortion facility, which is located on the fourth floor of an office building at 2425 Bloor Street West.

Wagner, who has spent [time] in jail for attempting peacefully to intervene at abortion facilities, is in jail awaiting trial on charges of mischief and breach of probation order after her December 12 arrest.

Nanci also attended Wagner's appeal hearing scarcely two weeks ago, where Wagner's lawyer offered a groundbreaking argument that Canadian law actually protects her interventions to save the unborn.

"Going to the appeal intensified my sensitivity to the issue," Nanci said. "I was there to support Mary, there to support the cause. I was thrilled by Dr. [Charles] Lugosi's arguments."

"I felt a growing hope and a growing confidence that victory has got to come," Nanci observed.

After hearing Wagner speak and then attending the appeal, "I was gradually getting to know her better," Nanci said. Then "I just last night found out she had been arrested."

That's when it occurred to her that "I support Mary 100 percent. If I support her 100 percent, then why don't I follow suit?"

So "I thought about it. Why don't I try a different strategy? Go in and silently hand out cards, offer that to people in the waiting room. I'll sit and silently pray." (Photo via Integrated Catholic Life)

When she arrived at the door of the Bloor West Village Women's Clinic, which has a secure entry system that staff operate from inside, "I pressed the button, not knowing what I was going to say."

But at that moment, a woman came out, so Nanci went in. There were about two men and two women in the waiting room, but they were not obviously couples. They took the cards and said, "thank you," she said. "I was surprised."

The "young man took it and said, 'I believe this,'" she said. Then "a staff member came out and invited me to leave. I didn't respond. She said, 'OK, I'll call the police.'"

At that point, the young man in the waiting room "pleaded, 'Don't call the police,'" Nanci related. "I said, 'Thank you,' and stayed and prayed the Rosary. ... My plan was to stay until closing time."

About two more people came in, and she passed them cards and continued praying. "I felt that God was with me. I was there for the sake of love and mercy, to serve God and serve my neighbor..."

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