The following comes from a September 29 email from Helpers of God’s Precious Infants San Diego:

Dear Pro-life friends,

40 days for Life started out as another busy Thursday morning at Family Planning Associates (FPA) on Miramar Road. There was a steady stream of prayer warriors showing up and praying on the sidewalk throughout the morning, while about 10 women arrived for abortions over the course of about two to three hours. At about 8:30 a.m. the property management company arrived, intent on ridding the shopping center of both counselors and escorts. What started with one officer, ended up with four squad cars over the next two hours, including a police lieutenant.

While the officers spent considerable time on the radio trying to figure out how to remove us, counselors had the opportunity to speak briefly with most of the couples going in. However, constant interruptions from the yellow-shirt pro-choice escorts left little time to share or discuss their situation as they were “escorted” to the front doors.

About mid-morning two young sisters from Tijuana (ages 23 & 21) showed up at the east end of the parking lot. One of the counselors spotted them, and unbeknownst to the yellow-shirts, had some uninterrupted time to share photos and Spanish-language handouts. Conversation was limited due to the language barrier. After about 20 minutes, the two continued up to FPA despite the best efforts of the counselor. One of the young girls (age 23) was 3 months pregnant.

Around 11 a.m., the police gathered some of the counselors and told them that they had been “mistakenly informed” by previous police officers that they could be here and exercise their right of free speech. This “mistake” has been going on in front of numerous police officers every Saturday for at least 5 years, and when asked what changed, the lieutenant told the counselors that one of their internal units and the district attorney said we had no right to be here, and we would be arrested if we did not leave after the property manager told us to leave. The order to leave included the yellow-shirts.

Shortly thereafter, as the counselors were preparing to leave, the counselor who had originally spoken to the two girls from Tijuana saw them leaving FPA together and ran to get another Spanish-speaking counselor to intercept them. By the grace of God, the two girls headed away from where the last remaining police car/officer was parked, opening an opportunity for the two counselors to stop and speak with them in Spanish for about 40+ minutes. We learned that the FPA doctor had told the 23 year old she was “too far along” for an abortion today, and that she needed to schedule a post 1st-trimester abortion with them at a later date. The counselors worked very hard to dissuade the woman from continuing on this path, and the 23 year old ended up making an appointment with Culture of Life Family Services (COLFS) on Monday morning to have an ultrasound.

The original counselor offered to take them to Tijuana and buy them lunch on the way, as it was too hot for them to be walking around looking for transportation back to the border. After much hesitation, they accepted, allowing her more time to persuade the 23 year old to keep her baby.

Please pray for this young woman and her family, that she keeps her appointment with COLFS and makes the decision to keep her baby.

As for the sidewalk counselors’ banishment from the parking lot and the opportunity to counsel women coming in for an abortion, we will be working to overturn this police ruling. Please pray us in this effort.

Please join 40 Days for Life in front of this abortion center as often as you can. Your prayers are critical.

God bless,

– the sidewalk counselors of Helpers of God’s Precious Infants San Diego