ST. PAUL, MN (EP) – Pro-life forces in Minnesota won a major victory March 23 when the board of directors of St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center voted to reverse that institution’s policy and prohibit elective abortions at the hospital. That reversal has not yet been implemented, and is currently under review.

“This is a great victory for the pro-life movement,” said Paul O’Donnell, president of Pro-life Action Ministries, which has carried on daily picketing at the hospital since January 22 of this year. “This decision shows that pro-life activism is effective in closing abortion centers. We were the ones who were sponsoring the picket demonstrations there. By the hospital’s own admission it was the daily picketing that caused them to change their policy. We will continue our efforts until all unborn children can rest in peace and safety in their mothers’ wombs.”

The thrill of victory was tempered for pro-lifers by the hospital “super-board” decision to delay implementation of the ban while a study group examined the implications of dropping elective abortions. The findings of the study group are expected in three months. “We believe God has given us 90 days to do more work,” said O’Donnell.“We believe that in the end we will be able to achieve victory.”

About 600 pro-lifers demonstrated while the hospital “super-board” met March 30. Then on April 1, Good Friday, hundreds of pro-lifers demonstrated in front of the hospital. They chanted, sang, prayed, and carried a large cross to commemorate the day Christ was crucified. Daily picketing of St. Paul-Ramsey continues.

O’Donnell, a Franciscan brother, vowed that his ministry would continue its campaign of boycotting and picketing until the abortion ban is implemented. “We will not stop the daily picketing nor the boycott of St. Paul-Ramsey Medical Center until the last abortion suction machine is wheeled out of the hospital,” he said.