A group of 50 pro-life activists who gathered outside an Indiana abortion facility say they were attacked by the facility’s security guard.
In a guest post for Students for Life, SFLA Great Lakes Regional Coordinator Mary Carmen Zakrajsek said the pro-life group gathered peacefully outside Clinic for Women in Indianapolis, in protest of their plans to expand with another abortion facility in Danville, Illinois — just miles from the Indiana-Illinois border.
However, Zakrajsek said the security guard hired by the abortion facility quickly became hostile and aggressive.
“Not only was he harassing sidewalk counselors by screaming at them and getting too close, but he was threatening to ‘spray them’ with something from his gun,” she said. “He was pressing up against one of the sidewalk counselors, preventing the male pro-lifer from doing what was well within his First Amendment rights.”
Melanie Lyon, executive director of the Indiana-based Voices for Life, told Life News that the security guard soon began shooting pepper balls towards the pro-life group. “I was standing across the street across from the facility when the guard fired the pepper balls,” she said. “I crossed the street to begin setting up for the rally and almost immediately started coughing from the pepper ball residue.”
Pepper balls are often used by police officers, and are similar to paint balls. But instead of being filled with paint, they are filled with a powdered form of pepper irritant called PAVA, or oleoresin capsicum (OC). They are similar to tear gas and, in addition to causing irritation from the pepper spray, cause bruising. They cause the victim’s eyes to tear and nose to run, as well as induce coughing, and make it difficult to breathe. The effects can last for as long as 30 minutes.
Zakrajsek made a similar statement in her guest post. “The security guard took it a step further by taking out his gun and shooting pepper balls on the ground,” she wrote, adding, “I was shocked. I’ve had eggs thrown at me before but never have been intimidated with pepper balls.”
Police were called, and EMTs treated several of the pro-lifers on the scene. Lyon said the Indianapolis Police Department issued a citation for intimidation to the security guard, who is employed by the abortion facility. It’s a tactic she said she isn’t surprised by.
“We are unsurprised that a facility that ends human life inside would also use violent tactics against peaceful protesters outside,” she said.
