A month ago, before the presidential pardoning of several American pro-life activists who were charged with FACE Act violations and conspiracy charges by the Biden Department of Justice for attempting to save babies and reach mothers seeking abortions, another well-known activist sat down with Live Action founder and president Lila Rose to share her own story.
Mary Wagner, a Catholic pro-life activist in Canada, described what it has been like for her to be arrested and imprisoned while trying to obey the call of God to speak life and truth, hope, and help to those who are suffering.
Wagner witnesses for life in a country where there are no limits on abortion. She told Rose that in Canada, “The unborn child has no status… the unborn child is not a person, so there’s no reason, no justification for restricting abortion. So it is allowed at any time throughout the nine months of pregnancy, and there are certain cities where it is routine for children in the last trimester of pregnancy to be killed.”
Last year, Wagner accepted a Live Action Life Award on behalf of her friend, American pro-life activist Joan Bell, who was incarcerated at the time. Ironically, just two years prior, Bell had accepted a Life Award on Wagner’s behalf while Wagner was incarcerated for her own pro-life activism. Wagner told Rose that she has collectively spent about six years in prison, specifically for reaching out to mothers seeking to abort their children.
A start in pro-life activism
Wagner was raised in a strong, pro-life Catholic household as the third of 12 children (both biological and adopted), with her parents bearing witness to the liberalizing of the abortion law in Canada around the same time as Roe v. Wade in the United States. “It was very much on my parents’ consciences to do something,” Wagner said. “For my dad it was more the political realm, and my mom it was the realm of, how can you actually help the moms. And so she volunteered at a pregnancy center, and I did that as well — participated as a teen.”
She also spent some time praying outside abortion facilities as teen and young adult. “I did join some prayer vigils at the first freestanding killing place in Vancouver, which was open the same year and around the corner from Mother Teresa’s home [convent], which was devoted to the care of pregnant moms.”
But during her college years, she felt a deepening of her convictions. She asked herself, “Is it enough just to be advocating here as I’m going to school and doing other things?” It was then that she “felt a call to more full time pro-life work.”
A clear sign from God
Wagner told Rose that her encounters with law enforcement began early on, after she met a pregnant teen who was sitting on the steps of a cathedral in Vancouver. Pro-lifers had offered the teen a great deal of assistance — even housing — but her boyfriend strongly pressured her to abort.
“It was about a month between meeting her and the scheduled abortion… meeting her came immediately after seeking spiritual direction,” said Wagner. “And it was a really clear sign from God to, if you have a relationship with woman who is pregnant, to do whatever you can to support her….”
The teen gave in to her boyfriend’s pressure, but told Wagner when and where the abortion was scheduled, so Wagner showed up that day and went in with the teen. While inside, Wagner “ended up meeting a woman ahead of [the teen] who was scheduled and spoke briefly with her,” telling the woman, “You don’t have to do this.” The abortion facility staff then came and asked Wagner to leave.
“All I knew was, I can’t walk away… even if I can’t do anything to stop what’s happening, what’s about to happen, at least I can stay with [the teen] and continue to hope and pray. So the police did come and they took me out and they arrested me along with my friend who was praying outside.” Wagner said the teen went through with the abortion and was back at the cathedral two weeks later.
“I don’t know what else I could have done, because I could not walk away from her and her child… so it was a confirmation for me that this is the right thing to do…. If there’s somebody whose life is in danger, we need to be there,” Wagner said.
Charged as a criminal for her pro-life outreach
Later, Wagner became involved in sidewalk ministry near the freestanding abortion facility in Vancouver, as one of the pro-life activists in that local area had purchased a home “within the bubble zone” (an area restricting the free speech and activity of pro-lifers) that surrounded the abortion business. That home was private property — but anytime Wagner stepped off of the property, she risked arrest.
“For me, it was about a long period of attempting to counsel, but also not wanting to pay attention to that limit if I step off of that property which to me was just a distraction,” Wagner told Rose. “I was arrested about a half a dozen times for stepping off that property. And… a few times I had gone before they would open in the morning and just kneel down in front of the door. I was consistently charged with mischief, interfering with lawful enjoyment and operation of a business, which is under the criminal code — carries a maximum six-month sentence. So that was over a period of about three years.”
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Wagner eventually entered a convent for four years, seeking to discern her calling in life, and deepened her faith in Jesus while there. But she still felt a strong call to reach women who were seeking abortions. “When that time came to make vows, I knew my heart was still torn,” Wagner said, so she reached out to pro-life activist Linda Gibbons (also arrested many times for her pro-life witness) who invited her to come and join the pro-life outreach efforts in Toronto.
Wagner said in the early years of her activism, she spent six months at a time in prison, but between 2010 and 2019, she spent about five years in prison total. What she learned while there impacted her a great deal.
Living the Gospel of life
“Many of the women in prison are post-abortive… modest estimate of about 85% of the women I met in prison are post-abortive because they would eventually come and talk to me about it,” Wagner told Rose. “So that was eye-opening for me to see just how devastating abortion is.” She added, “I met some women who were truly humble that I would not have expected to meet in prison… I found a real openness to the Holy Spirit… a real openness to call for help.”
Wagner and Gibbons were able to minister to some of the women in prison while incarcerated.
One mother whom Wagner met there was four months pregnant, and she had five prior abortions. “Her mindset [for seeking the abortions] was… because she wasn’t married; she felt a child should be born in wedlock…. [Linda Gibbons and I] spent a week praying and fasting….” Wagner said. That particular inmate was released and later “came back with her four month old son, and just was… completely like a new person,” added Wagner. “So that was a beautiful encounter and also a confirmation in the power of prayer and fasting for us.”
Wagner told Rose that she believes the practice of intervening outside abortion centers is an extension of the Gospel.
“I pray that others would be touched by that witness and see that it’s the natural continuum of care for our unborn brothers and sisters and their moms,” she said. “It doesn’t stop where the law arbitrarily says we can’t go. And so my hope and prayer is that it would continue as one of the many ways that we’re trying to live the Gospel of life and truly love those who are in need.”
