Three abortion activists interrupted celebrity pastor Joel Osteen’s Sunday mass service at a Texas megachurch by stripping down to their underwear according to the NYP.
Osteen had just finished leading a prayer and congregants began to take their seats at Lakewood Church when one woman quickly stood up, pulled off her dress, and shouted “It’s my body, my f–king choice,” videos shared on Twitter show. A second woman got up, removed her dress, and shouted “Overturn Roe, H*ll no” followed by a third who also stripped and repeated the chants.
The activists wore white sports bras with green hand prints on them and waved green bandanas — the color representing the pro-choice movement — as security escorted them out of the building to cheers from congregants. The trio, activists with Texas Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, said they decided to protest inside the megachurch because anti-abortion activists have no issue protesting against women at their safe spaces like doctors’ offices and clinics.
Julianne D’Eredita, 21, of Austin, Texas, told CNA in an interview Sunday that she led the group of 13 activists on behalf of the Austin-based affiliate of Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights, an activist group that calls for protests against pro-lifers and pro-life laws. The demonstrators were detained by the police and told they would be charged with a crime if they returned, D’Eredita said.
The incident began just as Osteen was starting his sermon at the 11 a.m. Pentecost Sunday service, the videos show. As the congregation sat down, a woman stood up and pulled off her dress. Wearing only her underwear, she then began shouting pro-abortion slogans and expletives. Two other women proceeded to do the same, the videos show.
The congregation cheered, and cheered louder when Osteen said, “So, we’ll just take one moment here and we’ll get started, but I know this, I’m glad to be in the house of the Lord with people of faith.”
“So thank you Lord for a good service,” he continued, speaking over the shouts of the protesters. “Alright y’all, we love everybody so we just thank the Lord that he’s in control and he has all things in his hand, and I think as long as I keep talking you can’t hear what everybody else is saying.”
