Watch: Pro-lifers transform Virginia abortion facility into free medical clinic for the poor

Pro-life activists recently transformed a former Virginia abortion facility into a free medical clinic for those in need.

What happened?

The former Amethyst Women’s Health Center in Manassas, Virginia, reportedly averaged 1,300 abortion procedures each year.

In 2013, local pro-life activists discovered that the widowed owner of the abortion clinic was open to closing the facility but felt that she was unable to because she needed to sell the building in order to retire. So the activists, in coordination with Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington, raised funds to purchase the clinic with the goal of transforming it into a free medical clinic.

The Mother of Mercy Free Medical Clinic opened earlier this month. Volunteer nurses and doctors offer free medical care to those who are uninsured or otherwise unable to pay for it. A spokesperson for the Diocese of Arlington said earlier this year that the clinic will also offer services such as counseling.

“EWTN Pro-Life Weekly” highlighted the new clinic on a recent broadcast:

Catholic Diocese of Arlington Bishop Michael Burbidge told supporters gathered to bless the new clinic that “this is still a leap of faith.”

“It’s faith that allows us to do this,” he said.

Burbidge told EWTN he credited the new clinic to the power of prayer.

“All those prayers, all those rosaries that you offer… they are never in vain. And God will use them in miraculous ways,” Burbidge said.

Art Bennett, president and CEO of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington, told EWTN that the clinic is an example of “loving your neighbor, not just helping your neighbor.”

Activists said the clinic would change hearts and minds about their cause.

“Life wins, I’m so happy,” one supporter told EWTN.