Six Red Rose Rescuers arrested for peaceful outreach at Pennsylvania abortion facility

Six individuals were arrested on July 31 after executing a Red Rose Rescue at a Pennsylvania abortion facility, which led staffers to shut the business down for the day.

Key Takeaways:

• The Women’s Centers abortion chain operates locations throughout Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Connecticut.

• A Red Rose Rescue was held at their location in Chester, Pennsylvania, at the Delaware County Women’s Center.

• Typically, a Red Rose Rescue consists of quietly and peacefully giving women in an abortion facility a red rose and literature with information about life-affirming alternatives to abortion.

• The six rescuers organized a peaceful protest, during which facility staffers abruptly chose to close their doors for the day.

• Eight women were unable to go through with their abortions that day.

• The six rescuers were all arrested afterward.

The Details:

According to a press release, the Red Rose Rescue was held on July 31 at the Delaware County Women’s Center. According to its website, this facility commits both chemical and surgical abortion procedures; some of the centers commit abortions through the second trimester. However, the Red Rose Rescue press release stated that only chemical abortions — which are abortions committed using pills — are available at the Delaware County location.

The release also noted that “Due to the location of the abortion center it is impossible for pro-lifers to do any effective sidewalk counseling, thus only by entering the building itself could the women scheduled for abortion be reached.” This is not an uncommon situation, especially when an abortion business is located inside a larger facility containing multiple medical offices.

The rescuers — Monica Miller, Will Goodman, Patty Woodworth, Eric Holmberg, Joan Andrews Bell and ChristyAnne Collins — entered the facility and gave the women inside roses and educational materials, along with resources about life-affirming alternatives. Some of the information discussed ‘abortion pill reversal,’ which involves administering the pregnancy hormone progesterone in an attempt to outcompete the action of the abortion pill mifepristone — the first step in the abortion pill protocol.

OBGYN Explains How Abortion Pill Reversal Works

The press release notes that during the rescue, abortion staffers told the women the rescuers were peaceful and posed no risk to them. But after about 90 minutes the staff announced they were closing the facility for the day.

Eventually, the police were called, and they arrested the six rescuers for refusing to leave the facility. They were all charged with disorderly conduct and defiant trespass; each was held overnight at the George Hill Correctional Facility with a bond set at $20,000. All but Joan Andrews Bell — who refused bail and chose to remain incarcerated — were released the next day. Bell was reportedly released on August 6, according to a Facebook post from Red Rose Rescue.

An arraignment was held on August 1 with a preliminary hearing scheduled for August 14.

The Bottom Line:

Several of the individuals arrested at this particular Red Rose Rescue have been involved for years in this form of activism, and some have spent time incarcerated for their peaceful pro-life outreach. Will Goodman and Joan Andrews Bell were two of the pro-lifers pardoned by President Trump in January after the Biden administration brought FACE Act charges against them and they were sentenced to prison.

Correction, 8/8/25: Joan Andrews Bell was reportedly released on August 6 from jail. An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that she was still incarcerated. We regret the error.

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