A Catholic priest prayed over pro-abortion counter protesters across from the Washington Surgi-Clinic in the nation’s capital as they screamed at pro-life activists who were there demanding justice for five late-term babies they say were aborted in violation of federal law.
“Lord Jesus, we thank you for this time together to testify to the dignity of human life. Help turn aside the darkness that covers our land and the minds of the people that might be here,” a priest who goes by Father Bill prayed during the protest on May 4. “In the name of Jesus, may they be healed. In the name of Jesus, may they be at peace. In the name of Jesus, may they be delivered from the darkness that the evil one brings. Amen.”
The protest was one of a series led by the left-wing pro-life group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU). Founder and executive director of PAAU, Terrisa Bukovinac, and the group’s director of activism, Lauren Handy, said they recovered 115 aborted babies, including five late-term babies, from Curtis Bay Medical Waste Services outside of the Washington Surgi Clinic on March 25. Following the discovery, pro-life groups asked neonatal experts, including a former abortionist, to consult on the potential nature of their deaths. Physician experts told Live Action News, upon reviewing photographs of the aborted babies, that they “appear to have been viable human beings, raising questions about potential legal and serious ethical violations by the abortion clinic.”
“At the bottom of the box was a clear plastic bag with five more containers. One much bigger than the remaining four. Lauren reached into the largest bucket and removed the remains of a beautiful, intact, and nearly full-term baby boy we named Christopher X,” Bukovinac said at a previous press conference. “I think I can speak for both Lauren and I when I say this was the most devastating and soul-crushing experience of our lives. Not even years of anti-abortion advocacy could have prepared us for that moment.”
Bukovinac said they found four more late-term aborted babies with “a range of injuries, including a fully intact girl we named Harriet, who had one eye open and an incision in the back of her neck, her brain suctioned out and her skull crushed.” PAAU said another child was found intact, still contained in its amniotic sac.
The pro-life protesters have alleged that Dr. Cesare Santangelo, the only abortionist at the clinic, has violated the Partial Birth Abortion Act as well as the Born Alive Infants Protection Act, and PAAU is offering a $25,000 reward for any whistleblower who comes forward with information that leads to a conviction of Santangelo. The group points to a 2013 Live Action undercover investigation in which the group caught Santangelo on camera admitting “we would not help it. We wouldn’t intubate” if a baby was born alive as a result of a botched abortion.
“There are five members of your local community that you have completely overlooked,” said activist Cassidy Shooltz over the jeers of pro-abortion counter-protesters across the street on May 4.
“These are not images that have in any way been altered or edited. These are images that were taken after children were pulled out of a box that was brought outside of Cesare Santangelo’s abortion clinic. These children matter. What has happened to them matters, and we demand justice for these five children. It is unacceptable what has happened to them.”
The protest was peaceful, though several police officers stood guard outside the clinic as pro-life activists drew messages in chalk on the nearby sidewalk. Shootlz and fellow activist Maya Abraham prayed on their knees outside the clinic, even as pro-abortion protesters hurled insults and splashed water on their chalk messages.
“I pray that the hearts of people may be changed, that people may see the beauty of being human, the beauty of every child in the womb because they are so precious, they are so loved. And each and every one of us are here praying that you protect them and you love them because they are being killed, murdered,” Abraham prayed. “It breaks my heart every day. These poor children. We just pray your blessings upon them, and we pray that every single person that is standing here protecting this Santangelo to continue killing children, we just pray, and we just pray so hard that they will change their ways, open their hearts up to love because all we want is to bring love back to this world. We want that, we need that.”
Counter-protesters shouted as she prayed, “We like that you’re on your knees,” but she continued to pray.
“I have held a living human being in my hand that was the size of my hand. She was two pounds when she was born, and she lives, and she thrives. She’s my five-year-old younger sister. I have held babies that have died after being born,” she said. “And so I just pray for the women. I pray for the children who are being brutally murdered. And I pray, and I lay this down to you, Lord Jesus, and I ask you to use Cassidy and I to bring love back to this world. To bring justice back to this world. To bring freedom back to this world because there is never freedom in death.”
Shootlz joined in the prayer as well and prayed for culture in the United States to embrace life rather than the abortion industry.
“We pray for changes to the sexual immorality of our culture to understand that it is not a bad thing that children can be conceived and that we would love and value them when they come to Lord Jesus,” Shootlz said.
PAAU says the five late-term babies are being held by the D.C. Medical Examiner and that police and Mayor Muriel Bowser have refused to conduct an autopsy to determine if some were born alive and later killed. Nearly 100 members of Congress have signed letters demanding a full investigation into their deaths.
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Twitter.
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