Flowers: Condemn the nihilism of abortion-rights activists – Roanoke Times

By Christine Flowers

Theyre fire-bombing pro-life pregnancy clinics. Theyre defacing churches. Theyre disrupting pro-life marches with threats of violence. And this is their reasoning: If abortion isn't safe, you aren't either.

Those are the exact words written on the outside of a counseling center for pregnant women in Asheville, N.C., last month. Earlier, a Christian ministry in Buffalo, N.Y., was vandalized and before that, the headquarters of a pro-life organization in Madison, Wis., was bombed.

This is just the beginning, according to the group Janes Revenge, a pro-abortion organization that has a history of violence. So far, theyve limited that violence to buildings, but its very easy to imagine that this group which allegedly cares about the safety of women will endanger the safety of pro-life women. Theyve already threatened the lives of Supreme Court justices, including death threats issued against Brett Kavanaugh. A man armed with a gun was found outside of the justices Maryland home. Its only by a miracle that Kavanaugh, his wife and children were not hurt.

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In some ways, Im glad these violent folk exist, and are showing their true faces. There is this false perception of the pro-life movement as religious and ideological zealots who are engaged in guerilla warfare against women. While it cant be denied that anti-abortion activists have used violence to advance their goals in some very high-profile cases, these are by far the exception and not the rule. Its for that reason, and that reason alone, that I wont tar the entire abortion-rights movement with the crimes of Janes Revenge and similar groups around the country.

But I will call out the so-called mainstream supporters of abortion for their silence in the face of the carnage. This version of protest is more immediate and has the capacity to cause harm to those who are simply exercising their constitutional rights to freedom of speech, assembly and expression. Because nothing that these pro-life clinics are doing is illegal, and the attacks on their mission are an attempt to violate their First Amendment birthright (pun intended).

You might recognize the language Im using here, and the way that Im framing it. The pro-choice, abortion-rights or pro-abortion movement is all about the lexicon of rights. They push for the right to privacy, the right to use birth control and the right to become unpregnant. They demand the right to have free access to abortion clinics, the right to fund Planned Parenthood with tax dollars, the right to call a baby a clump of cells. Freedom of speech, of assembly, of bodily autonomy, all of these are the fundamental sacraments of the abortion-rights movement.

But I scoured the internet for some examples of those same organizations like NARAL, Planned Parenthood, NOW and Emilys List condemning the violence against pro-life organizations and buildings, and I came up with this:

When I googled condemnation of firebombings from abortion activists, one of the first titles that popped up was an article from the New York Times with this headline: A Brief History of the Deadly Attacks on Abortion Providers. I looked on Twitter and elsewhere to see if President Biden had said anything and there were some statements about how great it was that baby formula was getting to the children, but nothing about the violence. The governor of New York, a strong supporter of choice, issued a generic comment condemning all violence. I reached out to our local Planned Parenthood for a comment and got nothing.

I have no patience for these hypocrites. They wail in anguish at the thought of having to actually take responsibility for their sexual activity, and abandon abortion as a form of birth control. They seethe with anger at the prospect of not being able to decide that a Masters degree in Womens Studies should take precedence over the birth of an unexpected son or daughter. They reject science, much like the creationists who oppose evolution. They actually dont believe in evolution, because they dont think that human beings stem from human matter.

And they point fingers at other people who use violent tactics, tactics that have been disavowed by the vast majority of pro-life advocates. They try and conflate James Kopp and Scott Roeder (the men who killed, respectively, Barnett Slepian and George Tiller) with grandmothers who pray the rosary outside of abortion clinics. Or Catholic Supreme Court justices.

Its time for these women and the men who support them to come out and condemn the nihilism and terrorism of these abortion rights activists. Its time for Merrick Garland to open an investigation into their felonious behavior, instead of stalking parents at school board meetings. Its time for Planned Parenthood and the sister groups to issue full-throated condemnation of the violence that is being done in their name.

I know theyve spent a half-century condoning violence against the unborn, so that might be hard. But even a small effort would be appreciated, at a time when silence can kill.

Flowers, an attorney, is a columnist for the Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.

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Flowers: Condemn the nihilism of abortion-rights activists - Roanoke Times