By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
A woman who brandished a knife at a pro-life street counselor on the day of her scheduled abortion, revealed that the counselor’s message hit home – she decided to keep her baby.
The Duluth NewsTribune is reporting that Mechelle Hall, 26, pled guilty to second-degree assault charges in a St. Louis County, Wisconsin courtroom on Tuesday in exchange for probation after attacking a pro-life witness, Leah Winandy, 21, and her mother Sara, on Nov. 24.
When speaking with reporters later that evening, Hall said she was “stressed out” at the time of the attack but said Winandy’s words made her realize that she didn’t want to end her baby’s life. She changed her mind and did not go through with the abortion.
“If they weren’t there, I probably would have gone through with it and regretted it for the rest of my life,” Hall said. “It probably would have gone the other way. I’m sincerely sorry for doing that to her.”
Winandy, who was protesting abortions that day on behalf of Pro Life Ministries of Duluth, described what happened that day.
“I was there to ask mothers not to kill their babies at the abortion clinic,” she told the Tribune. “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.”
Eventually, Hall backed down, and left without having the abortion.
Winandy not only forgave Hall, but agreed to the District Attorney’s request to let Hall receive probation rather than a mandatory prison sentence.
“I forgive Mechelle for what she did,” Winandy said. “I do forgive her because God has given me forgiveness in my heart for her.”
Commenting on the case, Fr. Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life said this case “illustrates what is true across the board about those seeking abortions and even those performing abortions: they are conflicted and ambivalent. Despite any effort to appear sure of what they are doing, they aren’t. Despite the rhetoric about ‘freedom of choice,’ they resort to abortion because they feel they have no freedom and no choice.”
And the lesson for pro-life activists “is that what often presents itself as anger and upset is often the first stage of conversion. We should not be afraid of these reactions.”
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