Image Credit: @FordFischer / Getty 
MEMPHIS, Tennessee (LifeSiteNews) — Ten men and seven women spent last night in a Memphis jail after staging a peaceful protest in front of the Memphis, Tennessee, Planned Parenthood building.
The December 5 protest was organized by “Rescue Resurrection”, a pro-life movement planning “rescue” actions across the country.
Those arrested included well-known figures in the pro-life movement: Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue; Joan Andrews Bell, a longtime pro-life advocate; Terrisa Bukovinac, director of PAAU (Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising); Nathan Berning, director of Let Them Live; and Dr. Monica Miller of Citizens for Life, among others.
RELATED: Operation Rescue founder and companions jailed after Planned Parenthood blockade
As of Saturday morning, there were conflicting reports that some of those arrested and charged with trespass had been released. Most are expected to be held over until at least Monday while being processed through the city’s over-burdened court system.
Exhausted from spending a sleepless night in an over-crowded holding cell with no beds, Terry nevertheless told LifeSiteNews today that “this is a very small price to pay to stand up for the babies.”
Also speaking to LifeSite by phone from jail, Nathan Berning echoed Terry, emphasizing the willingness of participants to bear personal costs for their convictions.
“It’s time we make some real sacrifices for the babies, including going to jail,” said Berning.
Early this morning, after her release from custody, Joan Andrews Bell expressed gratitude for being part of what organizers say is only the beginning of a renewed rescue movement.
“It is the greatest privilege to be a part of the first of many of the Rescue Resurrection movement,” she said. “This is what needs to happen to save the babies, and I thank everyone who participated with all my heart.”
Video footage of the arrests captured by journalist Ford Fischer shows Terry, Bell, and other pro-life protesters being dragged away by police before being transported to jail.
While abortion is illegal in Tennessee, Planned Parenthood is suspected of helping pregnant moms obtain abortions in states where abortion remains legal.
“Planned Parenthood is trafficking these women, helping minors get across state lines to kill their babies,” said Terry from his jail holding cell.
“When we sat down in front of the door at 8 a.m., about a dozen police squad cars flew from around the corner and piled out,” recounted Terry. “It was startling.”
“They at first gave us warnings, but we said, ‘We’re not going to leave because Planned Parenthood is the largest murderer of children in the western hemisphere. They’re trafficking baby body parts, they’re trafficking minors to kill their children,” said Terry.
“They are the criminals in this situation.”
Next stop: Washington D.C.
“We’re trying to ignite a fire of passion for the babies, a renewed rescue movement, renewed civil disobedience,” Terry added.
“Our next stop is Washington, D.C. on January 22, 2026. We’re asking our pro-life brothers and sisters to join us in a sit-in in front of the FDA (the Food and Drug Administration) headquarters in order to call on President Trump and Health and Human Services head, RFK, Jr. to ban the murder [abortion] pill,” urging federal authorities to end approval of abortion-inducing drugs.
“If we’re going to revive passion to save the babies, it will only happen by producing ‘social tension,’” he explained.
Abortion currently is not among the top ten issues weighing on American voters’ minds, and Terry believes this “is a crisis for the unborn.”
“Social tension and peaceful civil disobedience drive an issue to the forefront,” he previously told LifeSiteNews. “And that is our mission; to make the abortion genocide a top political issue once again, so that we can make it illegal in all 50 states to kill babies.”
“What’s so important about this civil disobedience is that we’ve got the biggest cross section of pro-lifers I’ve ever seen — Democrats, Republicans, Whites, Blacks, young and old, Catholic and Evangelical — who are willing to get arrested together,” said Terry.
“If abortion is going to again be front and center for the American public, these activities have got to happen on a regular basis.”
Rescue Resurrection organizers say the Washington, D.C. action is intended to be a major public witness, continuing the series of “rescue” events launched under the Rescue Resurrection banner.
“What is a baby’s life worth?” asked Terry. “These children are having their heads crushed, their limbs torn off.”
Terry said that the inconvenience and discomfort of spending the weekend in jail pales in comparison to the fate of these children once their moms enter Planned Parenthood with the intent to abort. “We’re being fed, we’re warm, we’re not being tortured or killed,” he observed.
“This puts teeth in our rhetoric. If abortion is murder, we have to make sacrifices equal to the crime,” Terry said. “We are taking a page from the playbook of Dr. Martin Luther King. Social tension is necessary to create social change. So please join us in Washington, D.C. at the FDA to ban the murder pill.”
Rescue Resurrection is a pro-life movement coordinating peaceful, non-violent “rescue” actions at abortion facilities and government institutions across the United States. The movement seeks to publicly oppose abortion, advocate for the protection of unborn children, and to call on authorities and the public to end all abortion and abortion-inducing drugs.
