Oswald Clark:
In the immediate aftermath of the Dobbs decision leak in May indicating that Roe v. Wade would be overturned, pro-life pregnancy centres and churches were targeted for vandalism and firebombs, with more than 50 such attacks and other disruptions reported to police across the U.S. between May 2 and the Dobbs decision being released on June 24.
A group called Jane’s Revenge claimed responsibility for several of the attacks, many of which had the spray-painted message “If abortion isn’t safe, neither are you!” Jane’s Revenge called for a “night of rage” on the day the Dobbs decision was released. The organization posted a message online to pro-life groups: “We offered an honourable way out. You could have walked away. Now the leash is off. And we will make it as hard as possible for your campaign of oppression to continue. We have demonstrated in the past month how easy and fun it is to attack. We are versatile, we are mercurial, and we answer to no one but ourselves. We promise to take increasingly drastic measures against oppressive infrastructures,” saying “those measures may not come in the form of something so easily cleaned up as fire and graffiti.”
Large protests were mostly peaceful on June 25, but in Los Angeles a police officer was set on fire by a pro-abortion protestor wielding a makeshift flame-thrower. Riot police also had to be called in Denver to restore order, putting a kibosh on Stanley Cup celebrations that would have also taken place the same night after the Colorado Avalanche won the NHL championship.
On June 8, Justice Brett Kavanaugh, was the target of a 26-year-old man’s assassination plot. Nicholas John Roske, the would-be assailant arrived outside Kavanaugh’s home with a gun, ammunition, and a knife intending to kill the Justice. He changed his mind and turned himself in, but he also said he was motivated by the fact Justice Kavanaugh joined the opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito overturning Roe according to the leaked document. Roske drove to Maryland from Simi Valley, California, to assassinate Justice Kavanaugh after seeing his address listed online.
Justices Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Coney Barrett also had their houses protested by pro-abortion activists virtually non-stop between the leak and the actual decision nearly seven weeks later. The pro-abortion group “Ruth Sent Us” posted the home addresses the justices and the names of the schools to which they send their children.
Pro-life pundits suggested that the leak was motivated by the desire to put public pressure on the justices, but if it was, it evidently did not work.
Pro-life groups and conservative media noted that President Joe Biden’s administration had a muted response to both the violence and threat of escalating violence.
While Biden said protestors should not picket outside justices’ homes, his then press secretary Jen Psaki said, “protests that have been peaceful to date and we certainly continue to encourage that outside of judges’ homes and that is the president’s position.”
Chief Justice John Roberts launched an investigation into the source of the leak but it was not reported discovered by the time the Dobbs decision was released.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has confirmed to media that it is looking into “a series of attacks and threats targeting pregnancy resource centers and faith-based organizations” but had no other comment.
Pregnancy care centres and churches continued to be targeted for vandalism and disruption after June 25, including an assault on a church employee in Bellevue, Washington after the assailant spray-painted the words “religion of hate” and “woman haters” at the St. Louise Catholic Church. The activist threw a rock at the employee and spray-painted. There were also two suspected arsons at Catholic facilities in West Virginia and Texas, and at a pregnancy care centre in Colorado.
The U.S, Department of Homeland Security issued an “Intelligence Brief” on June 24 stating that the federal government expected “some domestic extremists will likely exploit the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade to intensify violence against a wide range of targets” and that the violence “could occur for weeks.” In its source summary statement, the Department said they have “moderate confidence” in their assessment that violence would be carried out against pregnancy care centres and churches.
