Over the past three months, pro-life activists have been physically assaulted by abortion supporters, a sign, pro-lifers say, that their message is hitting a nerve.
In Thunder Bay, Ont., in June, the New Abortion Caravan saw a man berate three pro-life activists as he poured chocolate milk over them. A few days later in London, Ont., a group of pro-abortion activists confronted the New Abortion Caravan and attempted to destroy the image of an aborted child on the side of one of their trucks. A screaming, red-haired, abortion activist climbed aboard the truck and tried to pry the photo off with a clothes hanger as she yelled at the pro-lifers, who were trying to get her down, “don’t touch me.” The unidentified protester then slammed a camera out the hands of a pro-lifer getting photographic evidence of the attack.
A few weeks later, Show the Truth was in Toronto where Alissa Golob of Campaign Life Coalition Youth was grabbed twice by individuals, and in one case almost had her camera ripped out of her hands. The next day a teenage boy was punched by a pro-abortion activist.
Organizers with both the New Abortion Caravan and Show the Truth reported to The Interim having fruitful conversations with passers-by and said the violence is isolated and does not deter their commitment to exposing the violence of abortion to the general public through the use of graphic images of aborted babies.
Golob, who took part in both activities, told The Interim, that the images provoke a visceral reaction and that it is unsurprising that abortion activists would react as they do. “They have no respect for life and this lack of respect for life comes out when they are angry,” she explained. Usually this anger manifests itself merely as verbal attacks, but some escalate to physical assault and damaging private property. Golob said many of the attackers are women who claim they are happy with their abortions. “You have to wonder, though, why they are so angry?”
She also says that the violent reactions stem from being jarred from their comfortable indifference to what abortion entails. The images of aborted babies, explains, Golob, “forces them to come to terms with something they don’t want to think about.”
Golob said that during conversations with abortion supporters “we don’t match their anger” and while sometimes the approach calms down irate passers-by, for others the cool response only upsets them more.
