Red Rose Rescue Participants Face Felony Charges

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FLINT, Mich. (ChurchMilitant.com) - Four individuals arrested last Friday in Flint, Michigan have been charged with felonies in Genesee County 67th District Court.

MLive reported June 10 that three of the four arrested protesters remain in jail after their arrest for entering an abortion mill serving the Flint and Saginaw areas of Michigan. Calling their collective enterprise the Red Rose Rescue, the arrested men and women offered women inside the clinic a red rose as a symbol of life.

Each rose had a card attached that read, in part: "You were made to love and be loved ... your goodness is greater than the difficulties of your situation."

Church Militant was documenting the event last Friday, and wrote: "As other pro-lifers held vigil outside the abortion facility, four Red Rose Rescuers were arrested on trespassing charges and carted off to jail."

The four people arrested were arraigned on Sunday and charged with assault, resisting arrest, obstructing a police officer, disturbing the peace and trespassing after they peacefully refused to comply with a police officer's demand that they leave the building. MLive provided details:

Lynn Mills, a spokeswoman for Pro-Life Michigan, said three of the four defendants remain jailed, waiting for their next court date. Bond was set at $10,000 in each case, according to court records.

"I do know they are making friends" in jail, Mills said. "It turns into a prison ministry."

Mills said she expected those arrested will contest the charges against them, particularly the felony charge of assaulting/resisting/obstructing a police officer.

"I don't know where this is coming from. (How can it be assault) when you are passive and lay there," she said of the arrests.

MLive identified the rescuers as William Goodman, 50, of Seattle, Washington; Lauren Handy, 25, of Baton Rouge, Louisiana; Joseph Connolly, 37, of St. Paul, Minnesota; and Patrice Woodworth, whose date of birth was not listed in court records, from Winona, Minnesota. A probable cause conference will be conducted on June 20 in the courtroom of Judge Vikki Bayeh-Haley.

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