In the weeks following the reversal of Roe last June, pro-life activists and organizations endured more than 135 separate attacks and assaults – including one pro-life champion who was shot by a man in Michigan.
83-year-old Joan Jacobson was canvassing an Odessa Township neighborhood last September, encouraging Sharon and Richard Harvey to vote against a pro-abortion amendment that would eventually pass in November.
According to press reports, an argument ensued between Joan and Sharon, escalating to the point that Richard Harvey wound up shooting the elderly pro-life volunteer in the shoulder.
Richard Harvey claims the shot was accidental and that he inadvertently pulled the trigger while trying to protect his wife … from Joan’s clipboard.
Well, that case came to a head this week. In the end, Harvey pleaded “no contest,” was given a suspended jail sentence of two months, put on one year of probation, and then ordered to complete 100 hours of community service, along with paying $347.19 in restitution.
Consider the precedent: shoot a pro-lifer and the true consequences could amount to a few weeks of picking up trash along a highway and a fine that amounts to less than the cost of a ticket to see Billy Joel in concert this summer.
In one of the great ironies of our day, it’s become increasingly dangerous to champion and defend pre-born life. Pregnancy clinics, organizations and churches have been targeted, firebombed and vandalized with increasing frequency this past year – and the lives of those who dare threaten the pro-abortion position are being threatened.
Remember the name Nicholas John Roske? Probably not. Press have shied away from the stunning story. But last June, the 26-year-old was arrested after he was found outside the home of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. He was carrying a backpack that included a knife, pistol, ammunition, zip ties, duct tape and pepper spray. He flat out told investigators he was there to kill the justice. He has since pleaded not guilty.
In recent weeks, Justice Samuel Alito, who authored the Dobbs decision, acknowledged in an interview with the Wall Street Journal that he believes all five justices who voted to reverse Roe were “targets of assassination.”
“It was rational for people to believe that they might be able to stop the decision by killing one of us,” he said.
Any and all attacks on people or organizations that defend pre-born life should be thoroughly and promptly investigated, and where evidence is found sufficient, offenders should be charged and sentenced to the full extent that the law allows. All life is sacred and of inestimable value. Strongly prosecuting attacks and assaults of innocent life is the only way to deter and discourage future aggression.
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