Nationwide abortion ban eyed as group marks ‘Siege of Atlanta’ protests 35 years in the past

Group chief has spoken to 11 state legislatures about biblical philosophies 

Operation Save America, primarily based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, has sometimes staged blockades over the previous decade, together with in 2022 in Nashville, Tennessee. However extra sometimes, the group has spent the final decade aggressively protesting abortion clinics and medical doctors’ properties. They usually carry sound amplifiers and posters embellished with bloody fetuses and slogans about homicide, together with anti-gay messages. Generally they do that exterior of church buildings for not being anti-abortion sufficient.

At trainings and public protests, in addition to in varied types of social media and podcast appearances, its leaders have used racist slurs and different bigoted language about people who find themselves Muslim or LGBTQ, and violent rhetoric about individuals who have had or have supplied abortions. In contrast to extra mainstream anti-abortion teams, the group calls for girls who’ve abortions to be charged with homicide topic to capital punishment, if that’s what state legislation permits.

Group members additionally advocate for treating medical suppliers as murderers. In 1993, pastor Matthew Trewhella, who co-founded the Milwaukee-based group Missionaries to the Preborn and is Storms’ father-in-law, signed a so-called “Defensive Motion Assertion” written by radical anti-abortion minister Paul Hill, saying that one other extremist protester, Michael Griffin, wasjustified for killing Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Florida. A yr later, Hill murdered Dr. John Britton, who had changed Gunn on the Pensacola abortion clinic, in addition to Britton’s safety escort. The Federal Bureau of Investigation investigated Trewhella and others who had signed that 1993 assertion justifying the murder of an abortion supplier, however in the end didn’t cost him. Trewhella says he was not concerned in Britton’s homicide and didn’t signal a second Defensive Motion Assertion on behalf of Hill, who obtained the demise penalty in 2003.

Trewhella can be the writer of “The Doctrine of the Lesser Magistrates,” a e-book that references historical past and biblical theology to argue that governments deemed “tyrannical” and ungodly can and ought to be defied. Trewhella has stated he has spoken to at the least 11 state legislatures throughout the nation about his e-book, and has stated he despatched 2,000 copies of the e-book to legislators and the governor in 2017 on the request of former Kentucky legislator Dan Johnson, who died by suicide the identical yr.

Counterprotesters additionally anticipated at occasions

Violence towards clinics elevated in 2022, the yr Roe fell, based on the Nationwide Abortion Federation. Suppliers reported a 231% rise in housebreaking, a 229% rise in stalking and 100% rise in arson, based on a latest report.

​​“The info is proof of what we now have identified to be true: Anti-abortion extremists have been emboldened by the Supreme Courtroom’s resolution to overturn Roe v. Wade and the cascade of abortion bans that adopted,” stated Melissa Fowler, the Federation’s chief program officer, in an announcement.

Since 1977, there have been 11 murders, 42 bombings, 200 arsons, 531 assaults, 492 clinic invasions and 275 burglaries stemming from anti-abortion sentiments, based on the Federation’s knowledge.

An abortion rights group known as Abortion Entry Entrance has been counterprotesting at OSA’s clinic actions exterior A Most popular Ladies’s Well being Middle of Atlanta and can proceed to take action the remainder of the week, based on the group’s public relations supervisor, Debbie Pressman. Entry Entrance can even counter OSA protesters exterior of the capitol constructing on Saturday, and volunteers will assist escort sufferers into clinics as wanted, she stated. The group counterprotests utilizing humor and mockery, based on Pressman, and posts photos and video of their actions on social media. They can even host a contented hour for clinic staff on Saturday.

“Simply in order that they’ll decompress and calm down a bit of,” Pressman stated.