by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 17, 2010
Duluth, MN (LifeNews.com) — A woman who faces assault charges after she pulled a knife on two pro-life advocates who encouraged her not to have an abortion has decided against having the planned abortion. Mechelle Tallulah Hall has pleaded guilty to second-degree assault but she has also decided to keep her baby.
Leah Winandy and other pro-life advocates were gathered outside the abortion business in Duluth when Hall approached the Building For Women abortion center.
Winandy told Hall she cared about her unborn child but the woman responded by reportedly brandishing a knife and held it to Winandy’s throat.
The 26-year-old woman from Superior, Wisconsin plead guilty during a court hearing yesterday and admitted her crime under questioning from county prosecutor Nathaniel Stumme, according to the Duluth Tribune.
Public defender Laura Zimm told Judge David Johnson that details of the plea agreement Hall made with prosecutors would have her serving probation but no jail time.
The newspaper reached Hall at home afterwards and she said she has decided to have the baby and that she is happy the Winandys were present to persuade her otherwise.
“Thank you for being there,” she said. “If they weren’t there, I probably would have gone through with it and regretted it for the rest of my life. It probably
would have gone the other way. I’m sincerely sorry for doing that to her.”
Winandy told the newspaper she agreed to the probation sentence.
“I forgive Mechelle for what she did; I do forgive her because God has given me forgiveness in my heart for her,” Winandy said.
Hall will learn the sex of the baby in an ultrasound next month.
As LifeNews.com has reported, Winandy has discussed the incident at length and said, “We asked the women ‘please don’t take the life of your unborn baby we care about what happens to them.”
“She said ‘don’t do this, don’t talk to me, don’t come near me’ and I just said ‘fear god,’ and she had the knife to my throat and I was a little nervous,” Winandy added. “She was probably trying to threaten me and intimidate me…but for what reason I don’t know.”
After Hall threatened Winandy, her mother, another sidewalk counselor, came to her aid and Hall threatened her with the knife as well, holding it close to her neck.
Hall then entered the abortion facility — where police later found her and located the knife in her purse. Police officials arrested her and took her to the St. Louis County jail.
Winandy related in the email LifeNews.com received that not only is she thankful for the incident but she said the story is not over.
“As the police were leaving, a young women ran into the building very quickly,” she said. “After a few minutes she came out onto the sidewalk, and seemed to be waiting for someone. My mom talked to her, and she turned out to be the friend of the women who had just been arrested.”
“Not knowing what had just happened, she had come to support her friend, but was told that her friend had left the building quickly. They didn’t even tell her why or in what state she had left,” Winandy continued.
“So we were able to minister to this women, her name is, Melissa and her friend, who had been arrested is Michelle,” Winandy said.
Winandy indicated she and her mother talked with Melissa about their Christian faith and she indicated it may be possible for the Winandys to visit Michelle in jail.
“Please pray for these two women. I do forgive Michelle,” she concluded.
The November assault followed a September shooting in Michigan that saw pro-life advocate Jim Pouillon shot and killed as he protested abortion.