(LifeSiteNews) — During a recent interview with LifeSiteNews’ Jim Hale, a pro-life wife and mother shared her motivation to counsel women considering abortion after having served a prison sentence for defending the unborn.
Laura Gies was recently released from jail, where she offered her nearly two-month sentence in solidarity with babies who are ruthlessly murdered in their mothers’ wombs. Her sacrifice resulted from a Red Rose Rescue in which she participated in April 2022, landing her two charges of trespassing and resisting arrest during a March 2023 hearing.
A Red Rose Rescue is a form of pro-life activism in which volunteers enter the waiting room at an abortion facility, offering women red roses and life-affirming resources in a final attempt to save their unborn babies from death. Arrests and charges such as trespassing frequently follow these efforts, consequences that pro-lifers offer in solidarity with the suffering endured by the murdered children.
Gies has participated in Red Rose Rescues before and shared with LifeSiteNews that her pro-life work is undeterred — even when just released from prison — “because they’re still dismembering children every day in the United States of America.”
“This place behind me is very busy today,” Gies told Jim Hale during a video call, gesturing to the Pennsylvania abortion facility where she was sidewalk counseling. “The parking lot is full with people who are having abortions. So, any chance I can in the life of my usual duties as mom and wife, I try to be here at least once a week and beg moms to have their babies and not have an abortion.”
“And, of course, sometimes it happens that a mom changes her mind, so that makes it worth going back.”
Gies explained her approach to sidewalk counseling, which consists of “look[ing] drivers and passengers right in the eye when they’re pulling in” and offering “pro-life literature,” including contact information for the local crisis pregnancy center. She also shared her “typical lines,” which are phrases such as “God has a plan for your life and abortion is not it.” Gies emphasized the importance of “preach[ing] to the dads,” who often wait in the car while their wives or girlfriends are inside the facility.
Although she plans to remain outside abortion facilities for the time being to be able to welcome her first grandchild at the end of June, Gies said that Red Rose Rescues are an “effective” course of action because “the majority of the time, you’re able to occupy the staff and the police so long that you keep them from actually committing abortions for the entire day.”
Asked what advice she would give to pro-lifers who are intimidated by the prospect of sidewalk counseling in such a pro-abortion climate, Gies suggested that they “drive by your local abortion clinic and find someone who’s out there and just ask to stand with them.” She also recommended spending time in Adoration or daily Mass beforehand to “give you courage.”
“When you see women going in, something changes in you that you can’t unsee and you want to try to help them. And that’s where I think just do it, and you will have your heart and your mind changed, I think, towards courage that you didn’t know you had,” Gies said. “One step at a time, and then you end up holding a baby a year later, and you’re so amazed.”
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