WASHINGTON (CNS) -- A group of pro-life Catholics gathered outside of a Planned Parenthood abortion facility in Washington Oct. 12 to pray the rosary for an end to abortion and the closure of Planned Parenthood and all abortion facilities.

The morning prayer also marked the third anniversary of the Marian Blue Wave, American Life League's growing movement to eliminate abortion.

"Marian Blue Wave participants commit to pray a weekly rosary with the specific intentions of ending all types of abortions -- including surgical, pill, contraceptive and in vitro fertilization -- and shutting down every Planned Parenthood facility in America," said a news release from the organization.

After the rosary, Katie Brown, Marian Blue Wave's director, remarked that when the group of about 25 gathered to pray at the D.C. Planned Parenthood facility, "I didn't realize it was adjacent to an elementary school."

"It was a stark reminder for me that Planned Parenthood and abortion violence have been so desensitized to the community, that children go to school right next door to a place that could have murdered a would-be classmate, teammate or best friend," she said in an email sent to Catholic News Service.

"One third of my generation is missing. One third of the students' generation is missing. All because women are told abortion is the best way out," Brown said. "As we stood outside and prayed, and watched a dozen or more young women head into the abortion mill, all I could think was, 'Lord I hope our presence touched someone's heart.'"

According to its website, Planned Parenthood's Carol Whitehill Moses Center of Washington offers services abortion, birth control, HIV services, men's health care, mental health, the morning-after pill, pregnancy testing and services, women's health care, transgender hormone therapy, and other services.

Brown's organization describes the center as an abortion "mega-facility."

"The national debate over abortion has escalated since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade," Brown said in a statement ahead of the prayer gathering. "It is more important than ever for Catholics and other Christians to wage this battle over the evil of abortion with the power of God and the intercession of his Blessed Mother."

"The Marian Blue Wave focuses on the true evil behind abortion and rallies people together to fight that evil with our most powerful weapon: the rosary," she explained.

The rosary "has been attacked relentlessly by the far left" but "this has brought about a deeper devotion for Christians who believe in the power of this prayer," Brown said.

The organization's news release said that with 10,000 individuals participating, "more than 1.5 million rosaries have been said to end abortion and shut down Planned Parenthood," it added. From the group's inception in October 2019 through July 2022, the Marian Blue Wave "has witnessed the closure of 67 Planned Parenthood sites."

The movement also "seeks to close all other abortion facilities in the United States and change the hearts of Catholics who advocate for or promote abortion."

In her remarks after the group prayed in Northeast Washington, Brown said: "We might never know how many women go inside only to turn right back around or attend a consultation and then never return. The need for a source of hope is great, and that is something the Marian Blue Wave (is) ready to offer."

"Now more than ever, we need to be peaceful and prayerful witnesses, and a constant reminder to mothers that better options exist for her," she added.