My Teen Girls Were Filmed, Harassed by a Lawmaker for Praying Outside Planned Parenthood

Ashley Garecht
USA Today
May. 13, 2019

"State Rep. Brian Sims not only verbally accosted three minors, he attempted to doxx them, simply because they were exercising their right to pray."

As a mother, there are many things I hope to teach my children. Sometimes lessons happen in conversations, and other times they take root through lived experiences — including challenging, adversarial ones. The best learning takes place, I’ve found, when conversations and experiences come together and my children see words turn into actions.

On Holy Thursday, April 18, I went to the Planned Parenthood in downtown Philadelphia to pray with my two teenage daughters and one of their friends.

It was important for us to be there in person, standing in front of the clinic and praying for everyone coming in and out of the building so that our belief in the dignity of human life from conception to natural death and our love for all of God’s children, no matter their circumstances, could be expressed in our calm, physical presence and our peaceful, audible prayer.

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