VANCOUVER, British Columbia, April 18, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) – Canadian pro-life rescuer Mary Wagner remains in jail following her arrest Tuesday at a Vancouver abortion center.

Wagner, 43, was arrested at the Everywoman’s Health Center, 2525 Commercial Dr, at about 11:15 a.m., a little over an hour after she and a companion, who identifies only as Baby Jane Doe, entered the abortion facility.

They carried red and white roses. Attached to each rose was a Miraculous Medal and a pro-life message for mothers who were there to abort their babies. They attempted to talk to people in the waiting room and offer alternatives to abortion.

According to Baby Jane Doe, who did not risk arrest, abortion center staff attempted physically to remove her and Wagner before the police arrived and warned the women they would be arrested if they did not leave.

“Mary said ‘I’m going to stay with the babies’ and she knelt down, and I knelt down,” Baby Jane Doe told LifeSiteNews.

“We both talked to the officers about what they were doing, about cooperating with evil,” she said.

She was then ushered out by a police officer, and shortly afterward, police officers carried Wagner from the building to a waiting police vehicle.

Wagner has been charged under the Criminal Code with “mischief, obstructing the lawful use of property,” as documented online at justice.gov.bc.ca.

As is her practice, Wagner refused bail conditions requiring her to stay away from abortion centers. She will therefore remain in jail at least until her first court appearance, scheduled for May 1.

A native of British Columbia, Wagner has spent five years in jail so far, much of that in Toronto, for her peaceful attempts to save women and children from the violence of abortion.

Her witness has inspired the Red Rose Rescue movement in the United States, which began in September 2017, and since then, has seen priests and laypeople arrested and jailed for similar actions at abortion centers.

Wagner’s arrest took place in Holy Week, just before the high holy days of the Easter Triduum, when the Catholic Church celebrates the passion, crucifixion, and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

She penned this explanation for her Tuesday action:

“I looked in vain for compassion, for consolers; not one could I find” (Psalm 69). Why should Christians go to these places where tiny babies not yet born are being killed? “Whatsoever you did to one of the least of my brothers, you did it to me... Whatever you failed to do to one of the least of my brothers, you failed to do it to me” (Matthew 25:40). Our Lord calls us to recognize his face in the face of our brother, our sister, especially those who are most forgotten. Every woman who enters a facility for the purpose of ending her pregnancy by aborting her baby is Jesus, - in the words of St. Teresa of Calcutta, - in his “distressing disguise". The child within her womb, whom we cannot see, is Jesus; he is begging for even one person to show him compassion and consolation… Our presence at these places where God's littlest children are being put to death is a response to God, who is Love, who has loved us first. He who has loved us from all eternity is there, abandoned by his own and facing execution again, as He did on Calvary. May He lead us there in the spirit of repentance, going to console Him in his agony, to pray for our brothers and sisters, to do what we can, with his grace, to bring His Light and Love where there is otherwise only darkness and contempt. If our eyes lead us to notice and care about the person we can see who is without a home, cold and hungry and without a friend, will we close the eyes of our heart to the helpless baby about to be fatally evicted from her only viable home? As Our Blessed Mother hastened to her pregnant cousin Elizabeth in her time of need, let us, too, hasten to the mothers and children in desperate need of His Light and Love. As she stood at the Cross, suffering close to her Son as he endured the Agony of the crucifixion, let us too remain with them. “Today if you hear His voice, harden not your hearts” (Psalm 95:8). For too many “todays” I have hardened my heart. Love took on flesh to show us a greater love, Love died in the flesh and rose again to show us “no greater love” and Love receives as done to Himself whatever I do or fail to do for “one of the least of these” (Mt.25:40), my brother or sister in the flesh. “Love one another as I have loved you” (Jn.13:34). I have not loved as He has loved me. I cannot love as He has loved me. We cannot love You as You have loved us. With your help, Lord, let us begin again.

Wagner is being held at Alouette Correctional Center for Women, 24800 Alouette Rd, Maple Ridge, BC V2X 7G4.