Monday, May 15, 2006
Pro Life at SMCC V
The ProLife Committee at SMCC started
in the fall of 1988. Operation Rescue came
to California in the winter of 1989. This was
a decisive moment on what level of commitment
the church pro-life committee members wanted
to go. Operation Rescue not only protested in
front of abortion clinics but also used other and
more high risk tactics. The other major tactic was
to block access to the abortion clinic. The bodies
of Operation Rescue volunteers were literally used
to bar the entrances to abortion clinics. This often
gave those women who came to get an abortion
another opportunity to reconsider their decision.
However, this also summoned the real possibilty
of the OR volunteers being arrested for trespassing
and or being physically assaulted by clinic guards.
This maneuver was called “risking arrest.”
I personally did not “risk arrest.” Perhaps I was
too much of a chicken! This was a decision that
you needed to not make with a snap jugdment.
My friend Terry got very involved in OR and did
risk arrest and was arrested. Terry, several others
in the committee including myself partipated in
the first Operation Rescue demonstration in the
Los Angeles area (February 1989). This was a
dramatic event with a large group of OR volunteers
and a counter group of pro-aborts (as we called
the opposition) and a large contingent of the LAPD
(both foot and horse mounted units) to keep the
demonstration peaceful. At that occasion blocking
the abortion clinic entrance was not done but on
later demonstrations it was.
Several months later another abortion clinic protest
was done (I was ill at the time) and the entrance
was blocked and the police used force to break the
blockage. Several of the OR volunteers were injured
and a number of arrests were made.
Some of my friends were jailed. While in the LA City
jail several of the other inmates asked my friends
why they were in jail. They answered that they had
been blocking the entrances of abortion clinics to
prevent abortions from happening. The other inmates
could hard believe what they heard and actually treated
the jailed OR volunteers with a certain respect.
Some of my friends actually did extended jail time
in prison for their roles in trying to prevent
abortions taking place.
This was an exciting time realizing that there
was real danger but we were willing to take a
stand for what we believed.
in the fall of 1988. Operation Rescue came
to California in the winter of 1989. This was
a decisive moment on what level of commitment
the church pro-life committee members wanted
to go. Operation Rescue not only protested in
front of abortion clinics but also used other and
more high risk tactics. The other major tactic was
to block access to the abortion clinic. The bodies
of Operation Rescue volunteers were literally used
to bar the entrances to abortion clinics. This often
gave those women who came to get an abortion
another opportunity to reconsider their decision.
However, this also summoned the real possibilty
of the OR volunteers being arrested for trespassing
and or being physically assaulted by clinic guards.
This maneuver was called “risking arrest.”
I personally did not “risk arrest.” Perhaps I was
too much of a chicken! This was a decision that
you needed to not make with a snap jugdment.
My friend Terry got very involved in OR and did
risk arrest and was arrested. Terry, several others
in the committee including myself partipated in
the first Operation Rescue demonstration in the
Los Angeles area (February 1989). This was a
dramatic event with a large group of OR volunteers
and a counter group of pro-aborts (as we called
the opposition) and a large contingent of the LAPD
(both foot and horse mounted units) to keep the
demonstration peaceful. At that occasion blocking
the abortion clinic entrance was not done but on
later demonstrations it was.
Several months later another abortion clinic protest
was done (I was ill at the time) and the entrance
was blocked and the police used force to break the
blockage. Several of the OR volunteers were injured
and a number of arrests were made.
Some of my friends were jailed. While in the LA City
jail several of the other inmates asked my friends
why they were in jail. They answered that they had
been blocking the entrances of abortion clinics to
prevent abortions from happening. The other inmates
could hard believe what they heard and actually treated
the jailed OR volunteers with a certain respect.
Some of my friends actually did extended jail time
in prison for their roles in trying to prevent
abortions taking place.
This was an exciting time realizing that there
was real danger but we were willing to take a
stand for what we believed.
# posted by Dino Don @ 11:04 AM 
