Today is the 40th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision by the Supreme Court.

And Pastor John, in a day like this, I think listeners may be interested to hear of your

involvement in the N.A. abortion demonstrations back in the 1980s and 90s.

Share with us where that burden came from, how many times you've been arrested for trespassing

because of it, how much time you spent in prison, and then maybe, if it's not too much,

maybe a principal or two for how you think through civil disobedience and the defense

of the unborn.

There was a season in the late 80s and in the early 90s, maybe about three years, where

I was deeply moved by the rescue movement that originated pretty much, I think, in Atlanta.

Noelle and I were sitting in a pizza hut watching the monitor of a television show, watching

people being picked up by the police, put into the buses and dragged away, who were not

doing anything but sitting there in front of an abortion clinic.

And as I watched that happening, I said to me, well, that's right, that's just right.

It just came over me with such a strong conviction and the rescue movement grew and lasted for

three years and we became very much a part of it here in the Twin Cities, which means that

we would get up early, piled into buses and go sit in front of an abortion clinic so that

nobody could get in without stepping on us or opening the door and then we would be accused

of trespassing and they would tell us to leave and we wouldn't leave because we believed

that we were there to try to rescue children from being aborted and so the police would come

and pick up some buses and haul us down and let us go, usually after they had told us not to do it anymore.

That happened, I don't remember how many times, maybe, I don't know, half a dozen times.

One of those times we were sentenced to one night in jail, so I might have been two.

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