On Monday, Pro-Life Action Ministries reported that their St. Paul, Minnesota, headquarters was vandalized overnight, following a Sunday prayer service outside a local Planned Parenthood. The vandal(s) marked the pro-life headquarters with multiple offensive messages, including an upside-down cross. The damage was discovered by a staff member upon arriving at the headquarters on Monday morning.
“Another f- mouth to feed,” read one of the crudely painted messages, in an apparent reference to the children whose lives are defended by pro-life groups. “F- Trump,” was scribbled nearby.
According to Pro-Life Action Ministries, the non-profit group never endorsed Donald Trump. Many pro-lifers supported other candidates for president, so the anti-Trump message was not only illegally (and poorly) painted, it was also an ineffective way of communicating opposition to pro-life values.
But it wasn’t the Trump comment that disturbed Pro-Life Action Ministries the most. Brian Gibson, the group’s Executive Director, explained…
What I find most disturbing is the hate speech indicated by the upside-down cross, reminiscent of the KKK. Clearly, there are those among pro-abortion advocates who seek to threaten, harass and intimidate those who peacefully seek to protect innocent life. But let me make this even clearer, we are not intimidated. Our work to return protection to the defenseless will continue unabated.
Gibson claims that in addition to the vandalism, he received a harassing phone call on Sunday, January 22 — the 44th anniversary of Roe v. Wade.
Sadly, choosing to deface pro-life property and/or harass or threaten activists, rather than engaging in thoughtful and open-minded discussion, does not seem to be all that uncommon these days. In October, a pro-life display at Marquette University was vandalized by pro-abortion activists; September saw a masked club-wielding vandal attack a pro-life display at Ohio University, before turning to threateningly point the club at a pro-life activist.
Following the Ohio University incident, National Director of Created Equal, Mark Harrington, stated:
Preborn defenders have been experiencing an increase in vandalism and violence at campuses across the country. Unfortunately, this attack could signal a new wave of violence towards pro-life advocates. Hooded and masked thugs behaving violently towards a discriminated minority brings back memories of the KKK; in this case, preborn babies are the object of the hatred.
According to Pioneer Press, St. Paul police will be investigating the vandalism against Pro-Life Action Ministries.
