JOAN ANDREWS BELL AND FIVE PRO-LIFE ADOCATES JAILED FOR PEACEFUL RESCUE
ALEXANDRIA, VA (July, 12th)—Today, 6 peaceful pro-life advocates, primarily representing Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), and led by pro-life legend Joan Andrews Bell, were jailed after pleading “no contest” to trespassing charges related to a Rescue at the Alexandria Women’s Center, the largest abortion business in Northern Virginia, on November 16th, 2021,
Joan Andrews Bell, Terrisa Bukovinac, Lauren Handy, Kristin Turner, Cassidy Shooltz, Jonathan Darnel, were engaged in a Pink Rose Rescue, a nonviolent direct action in which activists enter abortion businesses, hand out life-affirming literature, pink roses and offer hope and financial resources to the patients at risk of exploitation by the Abortion Industrial Complex.
Joan Andrews Bell and Lauren Handy were each sentenced to 30 days in jail. The remaining activists were each sentenced to 4 days in jail. All of the activists were taken from the courtroom directly to jail.
Joan Andrews Bell states: “I am honored to be with my dear friends in PAAU who have been so extraordinarily faithful to our brothers and sisters in the womb. Even with the overturning of Roe v Wade, there is this ongoing injustice to the smallest and weakest among us. The mothers and fathers of these children do not benefit from their death, nor does society. Whenever murder of the innocent is sanctioned by law the whole of society is harmed.”
Terrisa Bukovinac, Founder and Executive Director of PAAU states: “The concept of a human non-person is one that has been used historically and exclusively to discriminate against whole groups of human beings, and in the case of abortion the unborn that discrimination is lethal almost one hundred percent of the time. Rescuing these children from poisoning and dismemberment is an act of non-violence and a commitment to radical equality”
Nonviolent direct action has been instrumental in social justice movements across the globe. Passionate activism has historically shaped public opinion and public policy. The work of pro-life activists to put a spotlight on the barbarity of poisoning and dismembering of our babies is a critical act of public education, as well as an indispensable part of making child-killing illegal again.
Kristin Turner, Director of Communications for PAAU states: “The only guilty party is a court that imprisons people for putting themselves in between a butcher and a baby, but gives no punishment to the killer. Over 100 million people in the US are anti-abortion, to expect every single one of them to be obedient to the state sanctioned killing of unborn children is beyond irrational. We have seen a significant increase of activists taking non-violent direct action for unborn children. I am confident that this trend will only continue.”
Lauren Handy, PAAU Director of Activism said: “What you saw today was 6 people from across the political, ideological, and generational spectrum coming together to save babies and as a Catholic and Progressive myself, I am compelled by my deeply held beliefs (religious and political) to put my body between the oppressed and the oppressor.”
Starting tonight, PAAU activists will organize vigils outside the jail demanding the release of these brave and heroic Rescuers. These vigils will take place nightly at 5pm outside the Alexandria Detention Center, 2001 Mill Road.
Press contact: Caroline Smith (919) 525-4431
carolinesmith@paaunow.org