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Posted by Danielle Bean in News on Wednesday, February 24, 2010 10:00 AM
Back in November of last year, Minnesota resident Mechelle Tallulah Hall tried to enter an abortion clinic to terminate her pregnancy and she was confronted by the mother-daughter pro-life protester team of Sarah and Leah Winandy.
The Winandys asked Hall to consider keeping her baby. She responded by pulling out a knife and threatening them. No one was hurt.
It’s not surprising that Hall was charged with 2nd degree assault, but it is surprising that at her trial last week she offered tearful thanks to the pro-life protesters she had assaulted.
It turns out, Hall did not go through with the abortion, and she is grateful to the Winandys for preventing her from making an irreversible mistake.
Hall was asked if there was anything she’d like to say to the Winandys.
“Thank you for being there,” she said. “If they weren’t there, I probably would have gone through with it and regretted it for the rest of my life. It probably would have gone the other way. I’m sincerely sorry for doing that to her.”
Despite the violence of Hall’s attack against her, Leah Winandy, 21, does not hold a grudge:
“I was there to ask mothers not to kill their babies at the abortion clinic,” she said. “She [Hall] was walking toward me. She pulled out a knife and waved it at me saying ‘Don’t come near me.’ I said, ‘Please don’t kill your baby. Fear God.’ I came to the edge of the courtyard. I said, ‘Look and listen to your ultrasound.’ She turned around and came back with a knife and held it up to my throat.”
Winandy said she was contacted by the St. Louis County Attorney’s Office and asked if she would be agreeable to Hall receiving probation instead of a guideline prison sentence. She agreed.
“I forgive Mechelle for what she did; I do forgive her because God has given me forgiveness in my heart for her,” Winandy said.
Sometimes it can be hard to see the good that comes from standing up for life. This story makes it easy to see the important difference pro-life voices have made for this one mother and her baby. I’d say that’s a happy ending.
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It cannot be overemphasized just how vital is the prayerful presence of pro-lifers outside the abortuaries! Oftentimes, these individuals are the only ones to offer love & hope to the mother & child. Thanks be to God that this mother & her child were spared the despair & death of abortion!
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Todd and Sarah Palin’s infant son Trig has brought new attention to the frightening fact that 90 percent of children diagnosed prenatally with Down Syndrome are aborted. This tiny baby is bringing new hope to people with Down Syndrome and those who love them. This tiny baby presents a real threat to the culture of death.
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