LONG ISLAND CITY — Bernadette Patel explains she is nervous upon realizing that she just tried to put on the coat of a fellow “sidewalk counselor” while leaving a diner near an abortion clinic in Queens.
Patel, of Bay Ridge, stopped at the eatery for coffee with her colleague, Gabriela Migoya, before moving across the street to work outside Planned Parenthood’s Diane L. Max Health Center. The building on 45th Road in Long Island City has provided abortions since it opened in 2015.
Trained by Sidewalk Advocates for Life, Patel, and Migoya approach women entering the clinic to offer leaflets carrying pro-life messages. Volunteers from Planned Parenthood try to reach the women first and usher them into the clinic.
Both sides are civil on this frigid morning in mid-January. Although sometimes it’s contentious with pro-abortion activists on site who are angry and, on rare occasions, physically aggressive.
Patel shares how on Dec. 3, 2022, she was shoved and jostled by people in surgical masks at Planned Parenthood’s location on Bleeker Street in Manhattan, which closed last March. The altercation was captured by a photographer who sold the pictures to Getty Images.
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“I always get really nervous,” Patel said about the moments before she swings into action. “On the subway, my heart is beating so fast. That’s why I always try to go to Mass beforehand. It just helps.
“I pray, ‘Please, let this day be peaceful. And let there be a woman who chooses life.’ ”
As a counselor, Patel wears a pink vest like the ones worn by Planned Parenthood’s “Health Center Escorts.”
Despite her anxiousness, Patel doesn’t hesitate to greet each woman she sees cheerily.
“She is brave,” Migoya says.
Talking Points
Patel grew up in Arizona and California in a family that was pro-abortion, and so was she.
“My mother had two abortions before I was born,” Patel recalled. “She said they were necessary and, ‘You have a better life now because of it. We wouldn’t be able to afford two more children,’ and all of those talking points.”
Patel said she agreed at first, but she added, “It always bothered me, and it always made me uncomfortable and sad, and I didn’t know why. And then when she would talk about it, even though she said she didn’t regret it, I could see a lot of sadness in her face.
“It really just affected me. Like, this was not the right decision.”
Patel said she converted to Catholicism at 18 and embraced the Church’s teaching on the dignity of all human life, including the unborn. She resolved to advocate for them.
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Called by God
Patel came to New York City in 2019 after graduating from the University of California, Davis, with a degree in cinema and digital media.
Her first pro-life event was with a group of people praying the rosary outside a Planned Parenthood building in the Bronx.
Later, Patel joined the Legion of Mary, which organized a group that would pray every other Saturday at the abortion provider’s Bleeker Street location.
She recalled being moved by the sad faces of women as they entered and exited the building.
“I felt called by God to the need for someone to reach out and talk to them,” she said. “It snowballed from there.”
Broad Affiliations
Patel has since aligned her ministry with several pro-life groups, like Feminists Choosing Life of New York, based in Rochester.
She also provides sidewalk counseling during events held by Brooklyn Witness for Life, which, on the second Saturday morning of each month, prays the rosary outside of Planned Parenthood’s site on Court Street in downtown Brooklyn.
Likewise, Patel organizes Queens Witness for Life on the fourth Saturday of every month. Its next gathering will be 9:30 a.m. Feb. 28 outside the Diane L. Max Health Center, 21-41 45th Road, Long Island City.
Patel’s ministry has therefore made her a high-profile figure in the pro-life community of New York City, which has the nickname, the “abortion capital of America.”
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Targeted by the state
Patel’s affiliation with the group “Red Rose Rescue” drew the attention of New York Attorney General Letitia James.
In 2024, James filed a motion to hold the group in contempt “for willfully defying a court order that prohibits the group and its members from blocking access to reproductive health care clinics.”
In court documents, James repeatedly accused Patel of being an instigator of Red Rose Rescue, which she called “militant” and “extremist.”
Patel contends that she can legally approach people as long as she doesn’t block the entrance. The lawsuit is ongoing and seeks monetary damages totaling thousands of dollars.
In a news release, James said, “Too many New Yorkers have suffered at the hands of this hateful group — it is time they be held accountable for their blatant disregard of our laws, our courts, and our bodily autonomy.”
Meanwhile, the Society for Family Planning, New York City, has reported that the metropolis saw an 18% increase in abortions during the first quarter of 2024 as compared to the previous year — 9,660 in 2024 and 8,160 in 2023.
Worth It
Despite the continued opposition and anxiety, she feels before each counseling foray, Patel said the risks are worth it.
She shared stories of women who visit the clinics but still choose to keep their babies.
For example, Patel recalled talking to a woman last year who was considering a late-term abortion. Time passed without hearing from her, and Patel had no idea what she decided to do.
That is, until learning that the woman gave birth to a healthy baby boy in early September.
“That story is my favorite,” Patel said. “I gave up hope because she just stopped talking to us. But her due date was Sept. 8 — Our Lady’s birthday, too, the feast of the Nativity of Mary. It’s just beautiful.”