If I am perfectly honest, it’s been a Feel-Good WEEK for Americans who voted for sanity, common sense, and actual governance. From the Monday inauguration of President Donald J. Trump and Vice President JD Vance, to the pardons issued for the J6 and Pro-Life prisoners who were victims of an activist Biden-Harris DOJ, to border czar Tom Homan and ICE being unleashed to remove violent illegals from our country, it’s been a plethora of great news and all the feels that we are finally getting our country back.
This Friday is the National March for Life, and the hundreds of thousands of citizens who descended on the National Mall have been tremendous. President Trump’s pardon of 23 pro-life activists who were targeted using the FACE Act dovetailed beautifully with this march; Joan Andrews Bell, one of those pardoned, was released on Friday at 1:30 a.m., and did not hesitate to come out to the freezing cold capital and stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her fellow pro-lifers.
Not enough people know who this woman is. She’s Joan Andrews Bell, the godmother of the pro-life rescue movement, who spent years in jail in the 1980’s for protecting unborn life. She’s a grandmother who was just pardoned by President Trump.
I also believe she is a saint. pic.twitter.com/EGwjsKNYQM
— Eric Sammons (@EricRSammons) January 23, 2025
Bell is a mother of seven children, some adopted and with disabilities. Her unwavering commitment to the culture of Life extends beyond life in the womb to ensuring mother and baby are cared for and have a solid start in life. Bell helped to open maternity homes for low-income mothers and their babies,
Bell was an original “Operation Rescue” anti-abortion advocate, and served jail time on multiple occasions for protesting in front of abortion clinics. This makes Bell an OG (Old Gangsta) in the pro-life movement and a standard-bearer on what it truly means to take a stand for Life:
Joan Andrews Bell, 74, of Montague, N.J. — Bell gained fame decades ago for her participation in Operation Rescue and her willingness to endure long terms of incarceration, including solitary confinement, after clinic blockade and trespassing convictions.
Bell has been a Catholic activist since the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling that declared abortion a constitutional right until the high court reversed its precedent in the June 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision. Bell is a veteran of the clinic “rescues,” serving jail terms in Baltimore, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh, as well as state prison in Pensacola, Fla.
Her husband, Christopher Bell, is president and executive director of the New Jersey-based Good Counsel Homes. Joan Andrews Bell declined a lawyer and represented herself in court.
I just ran into Joan Andrews Bell, one of the 23 pro-lifers pardoned by President Donald Trump.
Joan was released from federal prison today 1:30AM and has been out marching for life all day.
THANK YOU, @POTUS! pic.twitter.com/oiTgGHA8U3
— Kristan Hawkins (@KristanHawkins) January 24, 2025
Bell is the real deal, and she has given her life and her body for the cause of the unborn. This is why she is beloved by the new pro-life generation, which have been mantled to continue the fight.
She was in prison yesterday.
President Trump pardoned her.
She is marching for life today.@March_for_Life #WhyWeMarch pic.twitter.com/yU9EJLVfSb
— James Weigel (@James__Weigel) January 24, 2025
Vice President JD Vance was the keynote speaker for the March for Life, and I was heartened by the part of his speech where he affirmed that the fight for the unborn, for which Bell has given her life, will not be subject to government overreach, especially now that Trump is in office:
And no longer will our government throw pro-life protestors and activists, elderly grandparents or anybody else in prison. It stopped on Monday, and we’re not going to let it come back to this country. Instead, and I know you all saw the news, our 47th President has already issued pardons to those unjustly imprisoned. And I want to be clear that this administration stands by you, we stand with you, and most importantly, we stand with the most vulnerable and the basic principle that people exercising the right to protest on behalf of the most vulnerable should never have the government go after them ever again.
Bell’s example of commitment and grace under the fire of persecution is one that young people see, admire, and prayerfully will emulate. That’s a fact that gives me all the feels.
