Over the weekend, a pregnancy resource center in Gresham, Oregon was set on fire after “an incendiary device was thrown through a window,” according to Luke Cirillo, CEO of the Gresham Pregnancy Resource Center.
“The kind of outrage that’s being directed at us is based on a complete misunderstanding and misrepresentation of who we are and how we have served the hundreds of thousands of people that have come to us over the decades,” Cirillo wrote.
On Mother’s Day, the Oregon Right to Life Office was set on fire with two Molotov cocktails. The same day, a pro-life group in Madison, Wisconsin was also targeted with a Molotov cocktail and vandalism reading, “If abortions aren’t safe then you aren’t either.” These are just a few of the 23 attacks carried out so far on pregnancy centers, churches, and pro-life groups since the draft of the Supreme Court Dobbs decision was leaked on May 2.
The likely motive behind these attacks is not a mystery. In fact, one pro-abortion terrorist group calling themselves “Jane’s Revenge” has taken credit for several of the attacks, including a fire at a Buffalo, New York pro-life medical office where arsonists left graffiti reading, “Jane Was Here.” “Jane” obviously refers to the pseudonym “Jane Roe” used as the plaintiff in Roe v. Wade.
Despite what appears to be a horrifying trend of domestic terrorism, our corrupt corporate media and corrupt law enforcement officials seem uninterested at best. At worst, they seem to have contempt for groups whose only crime is supporting and loving pregnant women.
What little coverage these stories are given is laughable, given what we know the coverage would look like if the same attacks were carried out on abortion providers. According to The Daily Beast, the story in Gresham was simply, “Authorities Investigate ‘Suspicious’ Fire at Pregnancy Resource Center.”
AP went with the matter of fact, “Police: New York anti-abortion center damaged by arson.” When a man was caught in an assassination attempt last week against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, one of the five justices expected to vote in favor of overturning Roe, the news didn’t even make the front page of The New York Times.
Law enforcement’s response has been arguably worse. Story after story reports that no arrests have been made, no suspects detained. The Amherst police investigating the Buffalo attack said in their news release that their investigation did not include a suspected motive. What kind of motive could possibly be behind graffiti reading “Jane Was Here”? Police can’t say.
Law enforcement’s response is even more appalling given U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland’s pledge to protect abortion clinics last fall.
“The department will provide support from federal law enforcement when an abortion clinic or reproductive health center is under attack,” Garland said, adding that he would “not tolerate violence against those seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services.”
Will Garland make a similar pledge to protect and support pregnancy centers or pregnant women seeking services? When I asked the DOJ and the FBI this question and whether they would be investigating the recent attacks, the FBI National Press Office sent me a statement: “We have no comment on any specific incidents.”
Update: Three days after this article was published, and after over 40 attacks, the FBI sent an updated statement saying they would be investigating the incidents.
