We believe that sidewalk counselors have been a "protective ring" around these facilities, and that legislative and judicial actions that have drastically limited and even eliminated such "protective rings" have allowed violence to escalate.

Your authors have seldom been a part of sidewalk counseling, but have been anything but disinterested observers. My own (Dr. W’s) position has been unequivocal condemnation of violence against the bricks and the persons in the abortion industry. I have held no quarter for those who kill babies, but have consistently stated that violence on the outside will never solve the violence inside. Also, while harboring the deepest respect and admiration for those heroic souls who have satin, I have had real reservations about some of their actions because of the negative public image it has created for the pro-life movement.

This being said, let us trace a bit of history. Back in the 1970s, the practice of picketing in front of an abortion chamber began. It spread from location to location, and then from Saturdays only (the heavy "kill days") to multiple days in the week. By the ’80s, sidewalk counseling, as it came to be more properly called, was a common practice throughout the U.S.

In the early ’80s, fire-bombing reared its head. Using the bully pulpit I had as president of National Right to Life during that time, I would look directly into the lens and say, "If any of you are thinking of fire-bombing an abortion place, please don’t. You will hurt the pro-life movement. You think you may save some babies. For a few days, in some cases, you might, although those women may still go elsewhere. What you will do is turn public opinion against our movement and delay the day when we can finally stop the killing completely.

"Remember, we are people of peace. Our basic ethic is to stop violence, the violence that daily kills over 4,000 unborn babies. If we adopt their evil ethic, violence, we gut our own. Remaining peaceful is the only way we will win the minds and hearts of people."

Others were saying much the same, and that message slowly got through. Into the late ’80s, fire-bombing became much less frequent. We must remember that such fire-bombing was always done at night, directed only against bricks, never against persons.

Then came the sit-ins. The participants were peaceful, nonviolent and prayerful, adopting the tactics of Ghandi and Dr. Martin Luther King. The physical beatings, jailing and punishment taken by the participants from police, was clear witness to the deep dedication of those involved.

Is it pure coincidence, in the late 1980s when the sit-ins were at their peak, that fire-bombings sank to their lowest levels? Is it a coincidence that by the middle ’90s, with rescues beaten back by the courts, that such violent episodes had quadrupled compared to 1988?

These peaceful sit-ins, however, were publicized by the national media as violent events, exactly the opposite of what they actually were, e.g., a local peaceful sit-in, reported in the paper often had a picture of a burned-out abortion mill (from a thousand miles away) printed along-side of it.

The abortion industry cried loudly in protest. Legislatures and judges listened and the anti-sit-in juggernaut began to move. Jailing became more frequent. Court-orders set boundaries. The high court ruled the RICO bill could be used. The U.S. Congress passed the Freedom of Access to Clinics Act (FACE), making sit-ins a federal felony. The result, to a significant extent, was to remove the "protective ring" of sidewalk counselors that had been in front of those entrances. Then the violence escalated from attacks on the persons of the abortionists, to random shootings; from targeted reprisal to terrorist activity, as in Massachusetts.

The question is, why the escalation? A moment’s reflection is relevant. There are about 1,400 abortion facilities in the U.S. Abortion has been legal nationwide since 1973. Sidewalk counselors have witnessed in front of these kill centers constantly during these years. There are intense emotional gut issues often involved in the abortion decision and there are over 4,000 abortions daily. How often could not a reaction to "her killing my baby" have caused a rejected, unstable boyfriend or husband to literally go crazy over the frustration, loss and anger generated and result in retaliation?

But, incredibly, 35 million abortions, over all these years, at 1,400 locations have resulted in—(tragically) —only five fatal retaliations (by this publication date). This is a minuscule number considering the depth and power of the emotions generated, and considering that we are looking back at hundreds of millions of man and woman protest days. Truly the news that ought to be publicized is not that five adults have been killed, but that there have been only five.

Rather than indicting our entire movement because of these unbelievably few incidents, the media should be extolling the extraordinary peaceful, nonviolent and prayerful aspects so characteristic of this movement, utterly unique in history, as it is. Sadly, such an evaluation has not appeared in the secular media.

The analogy with the Black Panthers is worth recalling. Dr. Martin Luther King adopted Gandhi’s method. He insisted that the civil rights sit-ins and demonstrations be peaceful. His supporters complied, except for the Black Panthers. This small group sought the same goal, civil rights, but employed violent means. They killed people. But there is a crucial difference today. Then the media nearly unanimously supported King’s efforts. The Black Panthers were reported as a tiny extremist group not representative of the civil rights movement.

In sharp contract, the media today is almost unanimously opposed to the civil rights of the unborn. Also in sharp contrast, today’s violent extremists have been held up as typical of the pro-life movement rather than the aberrant, atypical, sick exceptions that they so obviously are.

It is an obvious fact that almost all alleged assailants have been mentally unstable and are not members of, nor representative of the pro-life movement. Responsible leaders of the pro-life movement have unanimously and unequivocally condemned such violence. These assailants may be anti-abortion, but they are not pro-life.

All of this having been said, however, why the up-surge of violence? There were just as many babies being killed annually 10 and 15 years ago as today, but the violence today is different. Why? To better understand this, let’s look at a few experiences in one medium-size city.

It is clear that this vital function of sidewalk counseling has not been generally recognized. Yes, pro-lifers are there as a pro-life witness. Yes, they are there to save babies. Yes, they are there to help women, before and after the abortion. But they are also there to prevent violence. Their presence has been a "protective ring." These peaceful, prayerful people have undoubtedly prevented hundreds, probably even thousands of episodes of violence.

There are many deeply dedicated pro-life people. Most feel, and rightly so, that they have done their bit by volunteering to speak, counsel, write letters, stuff envelopes, march in Washington, etc. But such efforts are not enough for others. These folks feel deeply that they are called to use their own bodies to try to stop this holocaust. Their reward is the baby and mother saved. They need a physical and emotional outlet, and participation in sidewalk counseling for them is not merely personally and spiritually fulfilling, but also functions as an emotional safety valve.

But, time went on. The fetal death toll mounted. The expectation of stopping abortion began to fade, and for many, a more activist physical role was the response. This manifested itself in thousands of people sitting-in. If there ever was a pressure valve, an escape valve for emotions, sit-ins certainly provided it. How many know that over 70,000 such heros and heroines have been peacefully arrested compared to less than 5,000 during the civil rights era?

But then the judicial and legislative screws were tightened. Sit-ins were forbidden in a draconian fashion. The emotional pressure cooker, the frustration not only continued but escalated while the pressure valve was effectively shut off. Overwhelmingly, most pro-life people have directed their energies to other pro-life activities, but a certain unstable few apparently have not. With this we have seen a new escalation of violence, this time targeted at abortionists and tragically, even indiscriminately against a few working in the abortion industry.

And what of the abortion industry’s charges that our "inflammatory rhetoric" is precipitating these new events? This is unmitigated nonsense. It is not because we verbally accuse them of "killing babies" that these tragedies have occurred. No, it is because they are brutally killing babies. Our people are just telling the truth. The pro-abortion goal here is obvious. They want to prevent us from informing people of the true nature of their "business." Pro-lifers should see through this immediately.

There is no question why the abortion industry wants that "protective ring" removed. It is bad for business, very bad for business. It has caused them to lose untold dollars. But, having removed the "protective ring," they are now paying a certain price. Sadly, the pro-life movement is paying a far greater price because of the portrayal of all pro-lifers by the media as terrorists.

The real, ongoing violence is occurring inside the doors of the abortion chambers. Killing of innocent babies is the ultimate violence, and it occurs 4,000 times every day in the United States.

Men, but mostly women, boys and girls, young and old of every race and religion. They are heroes and heroines. They volunteer their time. They walk in the rain and snow. They endure insults and sometimes assaults from the guards that the abortion proprietors hire, and they take it — all in hope of saving one tiny life, in the hope of preventing the physical and psychic damage to one woman.

And that is their reward. They sidewalk-counsel and picket peacefully. When a woman goes through their line to enter, they will offer her literature and help. In a quiet voice, they will say, "Please don’t kill your baby. We’ll help you in any way you need. Won’t you let us?"

In fact, it is the abortion chamber people who frequently do such things. Pro-life picketers have been spit on, pushed, cursed, threatened, ridiculed, hit, etc. All they do is turn the other cheek.

The only unwise thing that we’ve heard occasionally has been shouting by picketers. This is unwise and probably hasn’t saved many babies.

If these women had truly been informed of the full facts of fetal development, of the hazards of induced abortion, and of all the alternatives, there would be no need for picketing. Furthermore, a woman at peace with her choice for an abortion would not be upset by pickets, pictures of babies, and attempted counseling.

F. Sontag, Third Internat’l Congress of Psychosomatic Midicine,
OB-GYN, London, 1971

CONCLUSION

Jack Kennedy’s words back then are worth remembering. "If peaceful protest is made illegal, violent protest will become inevitable."

SOLUTION