by Peter Baklinski
MILTON, Ontario, 16 October, 2012 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Critics of Mary Wagner’s ministry to abortion-bound women claim that her strategy, which involves peacefully entering abortion facilities to hand out roses and literature to abortion-bound mothers, does not save lives but only results in her arrest and imprisonment.
But Mary, 39, who has been jailed numerous times - and is currently in jail - for boldly acting on her conviction that every human being deserves life, now has definite proof that her ministry has dramatically altered at least one person’s destiny.
Mary Wagner (r) with Linda Gibbons (l)
Photo: LifeSiteNews.com
Pro-life heroine Linda Gibbons, who has herself spent almost 10 years in jail for breaking “zone ordinances,” relayed to LifeSiteNews what she called a “wonderful, wonderful story” that she heard from Mary last Friday.
According to Gibbons, an inmate recently approached Mary and asked if she remembered her. Mary could not place her. The inmate said that she had visited an abortion clinic two years ago to take care of ‘a problem.’ The woman reminded Mary that they had entered the clinic together, with Mary trying to change the woman’s decision every step of the way, but to no avail.
The inmate then told Mary how she had seen the police arrive at the clinic, roughly push Mary up against the wall, cuff her, and force her out of the building. The inmate revealed that the violence that Mary suffered at the hands of the police broke through her resolve, and she decided right then and there to change her mind.
The inmate told Mary that she was happy to have her little son.
Gibbons said she believes that God sometimes sends little signs like this to affirm the efficacy of pro-life efforts that appear futile to many.
Gibbons was present for Mary Wagner’s bail hearing last Friday. Wagner has been in jail since her arrest in August for witnessing at the Woman’s care Clinic in Toronto. She has been charged with mischief to property and two counts of failing to comply with a probation order. After Wagner’s November 2011 arrest a judge prohibited her from going within 500 feet of any Ontario abortion clinic.
During the hearing the Crown argued that Mary was “very disruptive” in causing a disturbance at the 960 Lawrence West abortion clinic, labeling her as a “persistent pro-life protester,” according to notes taken by Gibbons. The Crown argued that Mary’s continued detention was necessary to “protect the public”.
“Releasing Mary would interfere in the administration of justice,” the Crown said.
In her defense, Mary argued that she ministered to women at the abortion clinics so as to “uphold justice, even when the letter of the law won’t.”
She pleaded her innocence saying that she had “done nothing wrong.”
The judge implored Mary to choose other means that do not come in conflict with the law to “express your views.”
But Mary responded that this was not her goal. “My goal is to witness for life and to be there for the mothers and their babies.”
The judge gave Mary a Detention Order, saying that a judge is a “creature of statures” and is “bound by the letter of the law.”
Mary’s case was remanded till Thursday October 18th, 10 AM, where she will appear before the Ontario Court of Justice at College Park.
Mary Wagner can be written to at:
Vanier Centre for Women
655 Martin St.
Milton ON, L9T 5E6
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