Nearly all House Democrats opposed a resolution Wednesday condemning the political violence against pro-life pregnancy centers and their supportive allies that occurred in the aftermath of the leak of the U.S. Supreme Court’s draft opinion in Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
The House voted, 222-209, to approve the resolution, introduced by Representative Mike Johnson (R-LA-04), that states, since the leak of the draft opinion, “individuals professing anti-life views have targeted, destroyed, or vandalized numerous pro-life facilities, groups, and even churches to further their radical cause.”
Three Democrats, Representatives Vicente Gonzalez (D-TX-34), Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06), and Marie Perez (D-WA-03) voted in favor of the resolution.
The official position of House Democrats today was to vote NO on our simple resolution “expressing the sense of Congress condemning the recent attacks on pro-life facilities, groups, and churches.”
Shameful. pic.twitter.com/PsaIcHuc9h
— Speaker Mike Johnson (@SpeakerJohnson) January 11, 2023
Johnson tweeted that the House Democrats’ vote against the resolution is “shameful.”
Democrats also voted against the legislation known as the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which would require abortion providers to give medical attention, or transport to a hospital, to those infants who survive an abortion. These lawmakers stated they would not approve the resolution if it did not also reference violence against abortion clinics.
As Fox News reported, Representatives Diana DeGette (D-CO-01), Barbara Lee (D-CA-12), and Ayanna Pressley (D-MA-07) introduced a counter-resolution that “condemns all acts of political violence” and “affirms that all people have the freedom to access reproductive health care services and medical advice without fear of violence, intimidation, or harassment.”
Bill Donohue, president of The Catholic League, noted the Democrats’ objections to the resolution:
These are the same people who routinely condemn the January 6 riot—where the only person who died that day was an unarmed female veteran protester—but never condemn the widespread violence committed by Black Lives Matter demonstrators and Antifa terrorists.
“The fact is that scores of crisis pregnancy centers and churches have been blown up and desecrated in the run-up to, and following, the Dobbs decision that returned the issue of abortion to the states,” Donohue continued. “No such violence has devastated abortion clinics. Indeed, what the pro-abortion side labels as ‘violence’ against clinics includes “anti-abortion protesters congregated outside abortion clinics.”
“That’s what most Americans call free speech,” he added.
As Donohue referenced, more than 100 pro-life pregnancy care centers, facilities run by pro-life groups, and churches suffered firebombing, destruction, and vandalism with hateful graffiti and threats of continued violence.
About 70 percent of abortion-related threats of violence in the country since the leak of the Dobbs draft opinion have been against pro-life organizations, FBI Director Christopher Wray said during a hearing before the Senate Homeland Security Committee in November.
Despite outcry from pro-life organizations and members of Congress, however, not one arrest has been made by law enforcement.
Graffiti on the side of the building says “Jane was here.” The Compass Care CEO says he thinks abortion rights group Jane’s Revenge is behind this. The organization took responsibility for firebombing a pro-life organization in Madison, WI in May @news4buffalo pic.twitter.com/rWMg5oZQyO
— Kayla Green (@KaylaGreen04) June 7, 2022
CompassCare’s Buffalo Office Firebombed by Abortion Activists https://t.co/lML4Bvm8Q1 pic.twitter.com/t8SRGpEV6j
— CompassCare® (@compasscare) June 7, 2022
The resolution “condemns recent attacks of vandalism, violence, and destruction against pro-life facilities” and also “recognizes the sanctity of life and the important role pro-life facilities, groups, and churches play in supporting pregnant women, infants, and families.”
🚨PASSED🚨
The House Republican majority stands united with the crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life organizations who have been targeted by radical Far Left activists for defending the unborn. https://t.co/2gFsVCGZHU
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) January 11, 2023
Representative Chris Smith (R-NJ-04), who co-chairs the chamber’s Pro-Life Caucus, noted on the House floor that “the lives of more than 828,130 unborn babies have been saved in five years alone (2016-2020) through the work of pregnancy care centers”:
Now more than ever, we—and that includes the Biden Administration—need to ensure the safety and security of the estimated 3,000 pregnancy care centers that provide life-affirming alternatives to abortion—offering critical, quality care for pregnant women facing challenging circumstances and helping to save so many unborn, innocent lives.
“These pregnancy centers do nothing but help women facing unplanned pregnancies and the Democrats who voted against this common sense resolution are seriously lacking in any kind of moral compass or compassion,” said Anne O’Connor, vice president of legal affairs at the National Institute of Family and Life Advocates (NIFLA), a national network of more than 1,600 pregnancy resource centers.
“It’s not a political issue to condemn violence, especially violence against those whose very mission is to help mothers and their children,” O’Connor added. “Not one arrest has been made in any of the hundred-plus incidents of violence against these pregnancy centers. Not one. Our government has failed to protect its citizens and the Democrats who voted against condemning this violence clearly show they could care less about it.”
Donohue said Democrats’ “lust for abortion, combined with the refusal to condemn violence against pro-life Americans, is a black mark” on their party. “That almost none of them find this problematic is deeply disturbing.”
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Susan Berry, PhD, is national education editor at The Star News Network. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Wisconsin Family Action” by Wisconsin Family Action.
