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<p>WILKES-BARRE &#8212; The morning sun cast a shadow on North Franklin Street and a pair of workers mowed grass on downtown lawns, but to Ada Magni and close to 100 protesters on the sidewalk outside the closed Planned Parent office downtown, the surroundings were anything but ordinary.</p><p>Children and adults held printed and hand-lettered signs and rosaries as Pro-lifers of the Wyoming Valley and others participated in a nationwide protest at Planned Parenthood offices in reaction to videos released recently about the organization&#8217;s sale of fetal tissue from abortions.</p><p>&#8220;We are at the gates of hell right now. This is an evil place and as in the Bible, God wants us to be foot soldiers, go to the gates of hell with our weapons which is the rosary, prayer and fasting and that&#8217;s how we will defeat this Goliath of Planned Parenthood,&#8221; Magni said.</p><p>According to its website and a recorded message, the office was not open on Saturday.</p><p><strong>Two sides present</strong></p><p>Jennifer Yost, 31, of Plymouth stood with a group of four other people holding signs in support of Planned Parenthood.</p><p>&#8220;We are pro-choice,&#8221; Yost said. She noted there are no abortions performed at the downtown office. &#8220;We felt that we needed to be here and let our voices be heard as well,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Meanwhile, Magni of West Wyoming &#8212; who regularly holds prayer vigils outside the office &#8212; said the undercover videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, confirmed what had been suspected about Planned Parensthood selling the body parts.</p><p>The pressure from protests, she added, would persuade legislators to stop federal funding of Planned Parenthood and topple the organization that provides reproductive health care to women and men in the United States and around the world.</p><p><strong>Personal experiences</strong></p><p>After the protesters prayed the rosary, Marie Steve spoke up and told the group about her abortion in the 1980s.</p><p>&#8220;I realized what I had done. I was very remorseful and I prayed and I repented. I repented to God. God&#8217;s forgiven me and ever since then I have had a change of heart and I have been in the pro-life movement ever since,&#8221; said Steve, 58 of Wilkes-Barre.</p><p>Steve said does not have any children.</p><p>&#8220;The only child I have, he&#8217;s in heaven. He or she&#8217;s in heaven right now,&#8221; she said.</p><p>Joe Wagner, 38, said he drove 2&#189; hours from Wellsboro with his wife Ashley, and daughters Maryalice, 3, and Joelle, 9 months, to attend the protest.</p><p>&#8220;When I saw those videos I literally wept,&#8221; said Wagner, pastor of the non-denominational God&#8217;s Family Fellowship.</p><p>&#8220;This is the very first time we have ever been to a protest and did not even know what to expect, but we felt compelled to come,&#8221; he said.</p><p>Close by Jessica Luttrell of Bear Creek stood with her children, Eve, 6, Julia, 4 and Caleb, 3.</p><p>&#8220;It&#8217;s important for me to use my free speech, but also my human obligation to stand up, This is wrong. It&#8217;s wrong to sell baby parts whether you are making a profit or not,&#8221; said Luttrell, 36.</p><p>She wore a T-shirt imprinted with a logo for Pathways PA. She said her husband Joshua serves on the board of the organization, which has an office in Kingston and helps women in crisis pregnancies.</p><p>&#8220;They provide the service whether the woman wants to keep the baby or not. It&#8217;s a very gracious place to be,&#8221; she said.</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Approximately 100 people attended a protest sponsored by the Pro-Lifers of Wyoming Valley outside of the Planned Parenthood office on North Franklin Street in support of demonstrations across the country Saturday over the recent release of undercover videos on the organization&#8217;s sale of body parts from abortions. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/web1_TTL082315prolifers1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Approximately 100 people attended a protest sponsored by the Pro-Lifers of Wyoming Valley outside of the Planned Parenthood office on North Franklin Street in support of demonstrations across the country Saturday over the recent release of undercover videos on the organization&#8217;s sale of body parts from abortions. </caption0><photoCredit0>Aimee Dilger | Times Leader </photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><subheadMeta></subheadMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Jerry Lynott</p><p>jlynott@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Jerry Lynott at 570-991-6120 or on Twitter @TLNews.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Protest outside Planned Parenthood office in Wilkes-Barre over videos