The following is a transcript of an interview with 2024 Constitution Party presidential nominee Randall Terry. In it, Mr. Terry addresses his recent arrest during an anti-abortion protest in Memphis, time spent in jail, plans for future civil disobedience, reflections on his second divorce, and how personal hardship has shaped his continued activism and political ambitions.
The image used for this interview is from footage produced by News2Share.
IPR: Randall, This video shows you being carried by three police officers. What happened?
see section from 39 to 51 seconds in from the beginning.
TERRY: It wasn’t just me; 17 of us were arrested. I am in a black coat and brown hat. Later in the video, but earlier in the day, I was interviewed (see: 4:15 to 5:05).
We held a rescue on behalf of unborn babies – a sit-in, a peaceful civil disobedience – in front of Planned Parenthood in Memphis, Tennessee. It was a powerful witness on behalf of unborn babies.
IPR: What were the charges?
TERRY: Criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. Each is a low-level misdemeanor.
IPR: How long were you in jail?
TERRY: From two to five days. 10 men and 7 women from 11 different states.
IPR: Memphis jail; that has a historic Civil Rights ring to it. What were the conditions?
TERRY: Before I say anything about the jail, or about any of the relatively minor hardships my fellow rescuers and I endured – we must all keep that experience in perspective: What we saw and suffered was nothing, absolutely nothing, like the horror facing the unborn among us every single day in the USA. No one cut off our arms or legs; no one crushed our skulls; no one threw us in a dumpster or saved our body parts to be bought and sold by Planned Parenthood.
It is critical to always keep our minor, momentary afflictions in that perspective.
Our suffering was nothing compared to that. Nothing. That said, to answer your question, from what our jailed women rescuers told us, the conditions, especially the sleep deprivation, were deplorable. No cots, beds, or mats. We were all told we could not sleep on the floor. We could only try to sleep sitting up in a hard plastic chair for multiple days. There was constant noise, yelling, bright light, and frigid temperatures. Our arrested, women protestors reported seeing several young, pregnant mothers in custody, facing these same conditions – conditions that were clearly putting the health of their babies at risk.
We were in jail for trying to protect unborn babies and their mothers! Yet these conditions are absolutely brutal for a pregnant woman. They are clearly life-threatening for their babies. We can only share what we saw, and hope that the state or the federal government steps in with more manpower; the system in Memphis is overrun.
IPR: Was it worth it? Would you do it again? What do you believe you accomplished?
TERRY: Every one of us felt that it was worth it, and I believe each and every one of us would do it again. Most of us will be in Washington DC on January 22 for another sit-in, this time at the Health and Human Services offices, to protest the abortion pill.
17 people being arrested at one time was the largest rescue and civil disobedience action for the unborn in over 30 years! In order to resurrect Rescue, we have to have events like this to capture people’s imagination, and to inspire further action that is aggressive, and captures media attention for the unborn. We had a lot of media coverage for the event explaining our motivation, so I am very thankful. It was worth it many times over, because, today, abortion is not in the top 10 voter issues. If we ever hope to make it illegal again to kill a human being in the womb in the USA, we have to create social tension on behalf of the babies, as Dr. Martin Luther King taught. This was an excellent first step.
IPR: You are doing this during an especially challenging time, personally. You have shared some of that with us previously – off-the-record. Is there anything you would like to say publicly now?
TERRY: Yes, I have just gone through a second divorce.
IPR: You paid an obvious heavy price as a politician following your first divorce. How do you imagine a second divorce will affect your future as a candidate for public office, especially among your Christian-Conservative base?
TERRY: If somebody had told me 25 years ago that I would be divorced again, I would have laughed in their face. It is very painful, and embarrassing. I feel great sadness. I am worried more about personal relationships with friends and family, far more than any political consequences. Especially my family. Anyone who has gone through a divorce knows the overwhelming heartache that accompanies it. And now, I’ve been divorced a second time. I am sad and embarrassed.
IPR: How do you think your fellow anti-abortion-rights activists, and likely voters will react to this news?
TERRY: Prior to the divorce, we were in professional counseling. I plan to continue that. I am also receiving spiritual direction from priests in my church, so I hope the Catholic community will by and large view our divorce as a private matter. Rather than focusing on my personal life, my clearly flawed life, I pray they will focus on the babies who are at risk of abortion, and renew our shared duty to save them from imminent death. Some past supporters will be gracious and merciful, some already are, but I expect others may be hostile. We will see what happens as we continue to move forward.
IPR: You just opened a school. You have launched operation Rescue Resurrection. What is next? Will take any time away from your work?
TERRY: No, in fact, we are massively ramping up. In the end, this is not about me, or my divorce, or my personal flaws; it is 100 percent about babies being killed, and young mothers in crisis who need our help. My duty to fight for the unborn is a life-long commitment. I am a proven pro-life leader, strategist, and activist. I believe my duty is to build the movement that ends the abortion genocide, now. There are people from all walks of life who see the value in that, and will work with me, join me in battles, and be a part of the shock troops that are needed to end the killing.
IPR: What do you want your supporters who may be questioning their commitment, or intention to cast a vote for you, to know?
TERRY: I would want them to know that my wife and I tried hard for many years with significant, professional help. It was only after years of trying that it became clear that a divorce was going to happen.
For those who might say I should no longer try to save babies, or be a public figure, or run for office, I ask:
If your daughter was drowning, and you needed my help to rescue her, would you take my help, even though I have been divorced twice?
If you were about to be killed, would you take my help to save your life, even though you do not agree with everything I have ever done?
If your child’s life, or your life, is worth my help, are not also the lives of babies who are being killed?
IPR: You are a professed Roman Catholic. Will you seek an annulment?
TERRY: Yes. I am requesting an annulment.
IPR: Is there anything else you feel it would be of benefit to you, or others, for you to share publicly now?
TERRY: I take responsibility for my part in the failure of my marriage, and that is hard to live with. The pain and disappointment in me that this produces in our four sons is, without question, the most difficult part. I pray for healing and forgiveness.
However, I also confess that I’m also doing much better now that so much of the anguish is behind me. It has been a time of sorrow, but has recently started to become a time of peace. I believe God has more for me to do.
IPR: Do you still plan to run for the United States House of Representatives as previously announced for 2026?
TERRY: Yes. And I am recruiting others to do the same.
IPR: How do you think your personal flaws, especially a second divorce, will affect your electability, or your ability to maximize your advocacy work in other non-political ways?
TERRY: My campaign is about the babies. Ultimately, my divorce will, hopefully, be irrelevant. Again, I am not running to win; I am running – and recruiting others to run – to show images of aborted children in television ads, and causing the defeat of pro-abortion candidates, like we did against Kamala in 2024 when I ran as the Constitution Party’s nominee for President. So, the only thing I need to do in 2026 is to raise money for those advertisements, and to help raise money for the other 20+ candidates on our team.
IPR: Will you be using the same ads that were produced for your Presidential campaign?
TERRY: We will use similar ads, but I have a better team around me now, and we will have more highly produced ads.
IPR: Please keep us updated, especially about ballot access, candidate recruitment and training, and the protest events in DC. Before we conclude this interview, do you have any last thoughts? what is your state of mind? Hopeful? Depressed? . . .
TERRY: (Laughs) Certainly a little of both. In truth, I am relieved that the divorce is behind us now. I’m thankful for the new opportunities that are coming our way.
The school will be awesome. The rescue we just did in Memphis went really well. The protest my team and I have planned in DC at Health and Human Services on January 22 will be the biggest act of peaceful civil disobedience for babies in over 30 years. We pray it has a significant impact. I broke the news about that event here on IPR with you in our interview earlier this month. (See Constitution Party’s 2024 Nominee Randall Terry to Lead Training Effort for Pro-life 2026 Congressional Candidates, 2 December 2025).
For the first time in a long time, I feel deeply hopeful about the future. I am prepared and excited both to run and to train the next generation. By God’s grace, a generation ago, I led the largest peaceful civil disobedience movement in American History, and by God’s grace, I will help do that again. Either we will end this genocide in my lifetime, or I will die trying.
I also want people to know, especially my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, that no matter who you are, or what you have experienced, you can, you must be God’s voice for the unborn.
Maybe you too have been through a divorce, or fallen short of the Church’s teaching in some way. Remember, God uses the foolish things to confound the wise, and the weak things to overthrow the mighty. So do not let the fear of the judgement of others make you feel unworthy, or incapable of saving a human life.
When our Lord commanded us to love our neighbors as ourselves, the Samaritan was the hero of the story, not the Priest or the Levite! They may have had good theology, maybe they even had the best marriages, but they left that wounded man in a ditch to die.
The Samaritan – the despised one – the condemned one – was the one who took the risk to save the victim’s life. No matter what we have been through, we can save the lives of the innocent, the innocent who otherwise will be left to die in a similar ditch, the ditch of the culture of death
That is what motivates me. That is what consoles me.
Terry’s tirade against Muslims was a low point of last year’s final Third Party Debate. Pass.