Sign the prayer pledge for the nine pro-life rescuers facing a decade in prison.

WASHINGTON, D.C. (LifeSiteNews) — LifeSite journalist Doug Mainwaring spoke with pro-life rescuer Paulette Harlow shortly after her sentencing Friday as part of the Washington, D.C., Freedom of Access to Clinical Entrances (FACE) Act trials.

According to Harlow, “there was a great injustice with the entire case.” For her, the worst part was that the pro-lifers involved were portrayed as violent. She asserted that pro-lifers would never be violent because they find violence abhorrent, especially the “ultimate violence,” which is the tearing of babies limb from limb in the womb.

The claim of violence originated from clinic staff where the “D.C. Nine” staged their traditional pro-life rescue. Harlow related that a nurse from the facility said she “flung her into a chair,” with the judge in the case, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, believing the staff. The video that purports to show the rescues is inaccurate, she maintains, for it was captured in double exposure, thus making it look like all the events occurred at once.

Describing the rescue at the Washington Surgi-Clinic that took place in October 2020, Harlow explained that she and Joan Andrews Bell entered, with Harlow’s sister Jean behind them, when a nurse came “charging out and slammed me [and Bell] in the shoulder.” When she was hit in the shoulder, Harlow continued, she told Bell to “get down,” fearing she would injure her eyes and face.

“It’s very difficult when you’re telling the truth and the opposition is lying,” said Harlow. “They just believed the people that were lying, and that’s unfortunate because isn’t that what abortion is all about, lying to the women?” she continued, saying that those in the abortion industry will claim that the infant in the womb is merely a “blob of tissue.”

When women say they are afraid of losing housing and the like, that’s what pro-lifers need to provide for them. She added that to call abortion “healthcare” is “absurd,” since one never sees an example of healthcare where one person dies as the care is given.

Meanwhile, Harlow believes that God called her to pro-life activism, and that He calls all who believe in Him to pro-life activism in one way or another. Speaking for herself, Harlow told Mainwaring that she and her husband agreed to do pro-life activism when they married. In fact, the two had met while doing pro-life activism in Boston.

“There is a civil war in our country against babies and future U.S. citizens,” she said. “These are people that are made in the image and likeness of God. He has created them. We don’t have any right to interfere with that.”

Harlow’s husband, John, told Mainwaring that his wife is his “hero.”

READ: Pro-life rescuers are very effective in saving lives despite the risk of jail: here’s why

“She’s really convicted, and myself as well, as to saving the unborn, and whatever we can do to help,” he said. “They’re all God’s precious infants, and we know that from the moment of conception.”

“Life is God’s choice, so that’s the only choice we have,” Paulette Harlow concluded.

Mainwaring also managed to speak with pro-life activist Michael New, who said he was “saddened” and “disappointed” by the sentencing. Looking to Harlow’s age and health, he pointed out that the 75-year-old suffers from debilitating diabetes, Hashimoto’s disease, and back pain such that she needs a wheelchair. The sentencing was “unfair and punitive,” New said, adding that it was unfair that the prosecution sought to deny Harlow the ability to attend Mass while under house arrest during the trial, with Kollar-Kotelly taking their side.

“I just think that this is just disproportionate, and it’s just sad, unjust, and I hope she has a better outcome on some kind of an appeal,” New told Mainwaring. However, New was “somewhat heartened” that Kollar-Kotelly delivered sentences below what was recommended in most cases, saying that such cases should be treated like trespassing cases.

New concluded his remarks encouraging people to find information about how to write the rescuers at the Garland 9 website, adding that correspondence and prayers are valuable and that people should keep the rescuers in their thoughts and prayers while hoping for a better outcome in an appeal.

Mainwaring also spoke with pro-life activist Laura Gies, who previously spent time in prison for her work.

Upon saying that “letters mean a lot” to the imprisoned, speaking from her own experience, Gies said she believes that likely the “most powerful” thing about being in jail for the truth and pro-life work is that the other inmates see that you do not belong there.

Most women in prisons, Gies continued, have had abortions, and because they see the pro-life witness of activists imprisoned for their work, most other inmates discuss their abortions with them. To tell the inmates that God loves them and that they can find hope and healing in Christ, she said, is not possible unless the pro-lifers go to prison.

Gies also told Mainwaring about how she managed to convince a fellow inmate not to have an abortion while serving jail time in Michigan.

“The interaction in jail is intense,” she explained.

“When you’re a Christian in jail for the sake of the Gospel and the truth, and other inmates see that in you. And I know from talking to several of our currently imprisoned pro-lifers… they all have stories of intense conversations of consequence with people in jail that makes it all kind of, it’s a sacrifice, it’s penance, but it’s worth it.”

LifeSiteNews’ extensive coverage of the D.C. Face Act trials can be found here.

Sign the prayer pledge for the nine pro-life rescuers facing a decade in prison.