The abortion mill in Phillipsburg, NJ, located about 60 miles from New York City, was once owned by one of the most notorious abortionists in America.
Abortionist tried to bribe Marian Blue Wave volunteers praying at abortion clinic – Catholic World Report
As Catholics from the pro-life group Marian Blue Wave knelt in prayer before a New Jersey abortion clinic, the front door swung open and the late-term abortionist emerged and demanded to know who was paying them to constantly appear before the facility.
“They look at him kind of dumbfounded and they tell him they’re not being paid to be there, they are there of their own accord and they are praying that the place shuts down,” said Katie Brown, director of the Virginia-based Marian Blue Wave, a program of the American Life League (ALL). “He looks at these women and he’s like, ‘I don’t care who’s paying you or what, but I will personally pay each of you $100 to never come back to this abortion facility.’ Then he hastily turns around and goes back into the clinic.”
The stunning scene took place over the summer in front of American Women’s Services in Phillipsburg, a city in western New Jersey about 60 miles from New York City. The abortion mill was previously owned by notorious late-term abortionist Steven Chase Brigham, whom Operation Rescue once dubbed the “worst abortionist in America” after Kermit Gosnell. It is one of nine abortion clinics in New Jersey under the American Women’s Services banner.
After being stripped of his medical license in 2014, Brigham ostensibly transferred ownership of American Women’s Services to his medical director, Dr. Vikram H. Kaji, who was convicted by the New Jersey state medical board in 1993 for having “improper sexual contact” with a young girl at his clinic and giving improper breast and rectal exams to two women. The New Jersey attorney general’s office alleged that the sale to Kaji for $0 was a “sham” and in reality Brigham retained full control of the abortion clinics. In 2019, Kaji was declared incompetent to practice medicine and gave up his medical license. Kaji sold American Women’s Services to Dr. Richard Howard Blum for $1 in June 2019, according to sale documents obtained by Operation Rescue.
Brown said the Marian Blue Wave volunteers had been praying to learn the identity of the current late-term abortionist in Phillipsburg. Not long after, he appeared at the front door and made his cash offer; however, they did not learn his name.
“The fact that he offered to pay these women to leave the abortion facility proves not only that the power of prayer is definitely at work, but it’s affecting his business to the point that he had to come out himself and tell these women to get off the property or he would even pay them to get off the property,” Brown said in an interview with Catholic World Report. “It’s an incredible story. It’s the first time I’ve heard anything like that before.”
The prayer volunteers plan to redouble efforts to pray for the abortionist in hopes of a conversion that would lead him to close the abortion clinic, Brown said. They have no plans to stop praying the Rosary in front of the clinic in downtown Phillipsburg. The cash offer showed their prayerful presence was causing the ownership some heartburn, she said. “…Hopefully it’s driving women away to find better options, but also maybe it’s going to touch the heart of this abortionist,” she said.https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/images/blank.html
“Not only is there power in prayer but there is power in persistence and we’re going to be back next week,” Brown said. “It’s great that they had that one small victory with getting the abortionist come out and be frustrated, but they’re just going to keep coming back. Hopefully with the persistence and the power of prayer this site will close down eventually.”
Former clinic owner often confronted
Joan Fasanello, executive director of the pro-life apostolate Life Choices in Phillipsburg, said she had not heard about the recent incident with the unnamed abortionist, but it did not surprise her. Late-term abortionist Brigham used to come out front of the abortion clinic often to banter with the pro-life sidewalk counselors. He seemed to enjoy trying to shock them with his statements, she said.
“He once carried out a book on natural selection, a textbook, nobody carries that around. He’s carrying that around and he says to me, ‘Do you know who performs the most abortions in the world?’ ” Fasanello said in an interview. “I knew where he was going. I said, ‘Why don’t you tell me,’ and he said, ‘God,’ because of miscarriages, is what he was implying. And I said, ‘That’s exactly why we’re here and praying for you, because only God should decide who lives or dies.’ ”
Brigham lost his New Jersey medical license in 2014 for performing illegal abortions in Maryland. Authorities alleged he would induce women up to 30 weeks pregnant into active labor in New Jersey, then transport them to a secret location in Maryland, where the abortion would be completed. Brigham was stripped of his medical license in numerous other states, including Pennsylvania, New York and Florida. The New Jersey State Board of Medical Examiners concluded Brigham was guilty of professional misconduct, negligence, dishonesty and misrepresentation.
Fasanello said she often encountered women as they were leaving the abortion clinic in Phillipsburg to travel to another location. “We would see women really far along, in agony,” she said. “They’re obviously in labor. Getting in cars from out of state and driving off, and telling (us) that they were told they have to go to another office a few hours away.”
Fasanello recalled one woman about five months pregnant who left the abortion clinic after the start of the abortion and came to Life Choices. “She was crying and talking to me and she told me she wanted to stop the procedure and they told her it was not possible,” Fasanello said. “We got her to go to a local hospital,” Fasanello said. “They were able to change everything and she carried almost to term.”https://dtyry4ejybx0.cloudfront.net/images/blank.html
Life Choices, an apostolate under the patronage of Our Lady of Guadalupe, has three locations in Phillipsburg, a health clinic, a daycare center and home for pregnant women, and a location for ongoing help, including diapers, clothing, cribs, strollers, mentoring and scholarships. “It’s like a constant baby shower is the way I like to explain it,” Fasanello said.
“We can provide them with all kinds of help. Just about any issue that the woman might present, we can explain how we can assist her,” Fasanello said. “Mostly they’re coming because it’s something they are afraid to handle. So by having those resources for them and encouragement, a lot of times that’s enough.”
There were 48,111 abortions in New Jersey in 2017, according to the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion advocacy group. New Jersey ranks third in the United States for the number of abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age. Thirty-two percent of all pregnancies in New Jersey end in abortion, ranking second only to the District of Columbia, at 37 percent.
The Charlotte Lozier Institute estimated total abortions increased 6.8 percent from 2017 to 2018, based on State of New Jersey data. New Jersey does not require abortions performed outside hospitals or ambulatory care facilities to be reported. The state has 76 abortion facilities, including 41 abortion clinics, according to Guttmacher.
Launched on feast of Our Lady of the Rosary
Marian Blue Wave was launched on Oct. 7, 2019, the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary. The group is dedicated to joining the Rosary prayers of people around the world for the closing of Planned Parenthood and other abortion clinics, and for an end to all abortions. Marian Blue Wave was inspired by the words of Bishop Joseph E. Strickland of Tyler, Texas, who said in reaction to liberal abortion laws enacted in New York that the nation should “pray and work for a Marian blue wave.” Bishop Strickland has endorsed the Marian Blue Wave apostolate.
“We ask Catholics and Christians to sign up to say one Rosary a week for the specific intention of ending all abortion and shutting down all Planned Parenthood facilities,” Brown said. “We have people signed up all over the country but also in 31 different countries around the world. We have groups that will either meet in churches or sometimes they will go out in front of a Planned Parenthood facility. Most of our people pray at home.”
Marian Blue Wave’s focus is not on politics or lobbying, but using the tools of spiritual warfare to end abortion, Brown said. The group has an online map showing Zip Code locations of its volunteers, alongside locations of abortion clinics.
“We thought the best way to bring people to realize that this is a fight in faith is to go through the Blessed Mother. That’s where the roots of this program are, is bringing back the faith aspect into ending abortion and shutting down Planned Parenthood,” Brown said. “This is a fight against evil. Our most powerful weapon against evil is the Rosary. If we’re going to fight a spiritual battle, we need spiritual weapons. That’s where the Rosary comes in.”
While some Marian Blue Wave volunteers pray in front of abortion clinics, many pray in churches and in their homes. That fact helped Marian Blue Wave grow even through the uncertainties of COVID-19. “That’s something that has really helped us,” Brown said. “You don’t have to go in front of a Planned Parenthood facility or an abortion facility to pray the Rosary. You can do that from anywhere as long as your intention is for the Blessed Mother to help shut down Planned Parenthood facilities and to end abortion. That has helped us growing during these difficult times the past couple years.”
Marian focus is unique
Brown, the granddaughter of American Life League founder Judie Brown, said the total Marian nature of the apostolate makes the group unique. “Hopefully this program is something that she (the BVM) can use to change the hearts of mothers and families everywhere, to see their true dignity and sanctity of life in that preborn child,” Brown said. “I think it might be the first program that really relies on the Blessed Mother to end abortion and shut down Planned Parenthood. It’s definitely unique in that fact. We’re hoping she will lead mothers to choose life, through her motherly intuition into guiding people that way.”
Brown said she believes Rosary prayers played a big role in the recent publicity of the racist and eugenicist past of Planned Parenthood, the exposing of the marketing of body parts of aborted children, the role abortion clinics play in the enabling of sex traffickers, and the ties the vaccine industry has to abortion and exploiting the deaths of aborted children for research.
“I think it really just comes back to the power of the intercession of the Blessed Mother and the power of prayer,” she said. “These things are not things that have been discovered in court or anything like that. I think these are supernatural revelations that have definitely come out of prayer. If you really want to see change, we’ve got to hold Planned Parenthood accountable for not just the murder of millions of children but also for the terrible things they’re doing to people currently.”