A Catholic priest will spend seven days in prison after he was arrested for counseling women inside an abortion center. Father Stephen Imbarrato of Priests for Life had been taking part in the “Red Rose Rescue” effort, which involved people entering abortion facility waiting rooms to offer advice to those who were intending to abort their babies – as a token of affection for these women, they would also give them a red rose as a gift.
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Imbarrato was one of three other pro-lifers who entered Steven Brigham’s Capital Women’s Services in Washington, D.C., where they were eventually arrested for trespassing. On Monday, DC Superior Court Chief Judge Robert Morin found Imbarrato guilty, along with pro-lifers Julia Haag and Joan McKee, as reported by LifeSiteNews.
Following his conviction, the priest was defiant saying that he rejected a ruling from a “Corrupt and immoral government that sanctions, protects (through its courts), and funds the daily mass murder of thousands of innocent preborn babies.”
“When do the babies get their day in court?” Imbarrato asked. “Today they do! Judge, you will have to send me to jail!” Morin sentenced him to seven days in prison.
“Father is at peace and exactly where God wants him to be. It is an honor to be in chains for Christ,” said pro-life campaign group “Mercy Missions” DC founder, Lauren Handy. “Visiting those in jail is a Catholic corporal work of mercy and Father has been placed in a unique situation where he can live out his faith daily.”
“Multiple lives were saved that day” of the rescue,” Handy added in a Facebook Live broadcast from outside the prison. “Mom’s chose life instead of abortion.”
https://www.facebook.com/fatherstephen.imbarrato/videos/10155689110629157/
Imbarrato told LifeSiteNews that the incident should “motivate more people” to “reflect on what is a minimally proportional response to the state-sanctioned mass murder of the unborn.”
“As a Catholic priest who is a great grandpa of a four-month old-baby, a grandfather of four, an adoptive father of a son who committed suicide three years ago, and the father of two babies who died from abortion decades ago, I cherish all life as unique, precious, and unrepeatable from fertilization,” Imbarrato added.