Embattled Pro-Lifers Rally to Protest Mississippi's Last Abortion Mill
by Mary Rettig and Jenni Parker
July 18, 2006
(AgapePress) - - Pro-life demonstrators with Operation Save America (OSA) and other groups are rallying to end abortion in Mississippi. Members of that organization and allies from across the U.S. have gathered in the capital city of Jackson for a week-long protest against the last abortion clinic in the state. A movement OSA calls the "Gentle Revolution" is pausing in Jackson for a series of rallies, demonstrations, and prayer events that began July 15 and is scheduled to run through July 22, 2006. Pro-life leaders and activists from across the nation will be joining OSA at the "last abortion mill" in Mississippi for the stated purpose of "storming the gates of hell in the strong Name of Jesus Christ" on behalf of the unborn.
Jackson-area Christian radio producer and station manager Jim Thorn has been monitoring the pro-life rally and related events, including protests at the clinic, Jackson Women's Health Organization, and at the State Capitol. He notes that some First Amendment rights issues have come up since the start of the demonstrations last Saturday.
"There were maybe four or five dozen police, highway patrol [officers], Capitol security, and two buses [for] the people who might be arrested, in case there were any arrests," Thorn says. "There were no arrests, thank goodness," he adds -- or, at least, none that first day.
Pro-Lifers Face Police Persecution, Violent Counter-Protest
On Sunday, however, five pro-life demonstrators were taken into custody outside an Episcopal church and are now facing multiple charges that include, according to the local Clarion-Ledger newspaper, obstructing traffic, protesting in a residential neighborhood without a permit, and disorderly conduct.
But on the same day, when a team of OSA evangelists and other pro-life activists attempted to attend the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson and had their passage blocked and their vehicles attacked and vandalized, police on the scene refused to intervene either to protect the Christians or to arrest their attackers. The violent group members, whose faces were covered with scarves, did not belong to the church but, reportedly, to an anti-Bush group called "World Can't Wait."
Also, yesterday morning, Thorn notes that Jackson police arrested several peaceful pro-lifers for not having a permit to demonstrate in the particular areas where they were standing. He says the Christian demonstrators have since been getting legal assistance from the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy (AFA Law Center) in an effort to protect their constitutional rights.
An OSA press release notes that the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled consistently throughout its history that governments cannot require permits for free speech; nevertheless, pro-lifers Cal Zastrow and Ken Scott were arrested and taken to jail on Monday morning after Jackson police descended in force on Christians who were holding signs and sharing the gospel on a public sidewalk at an overpass. At the Jackson Women's Health Organization abortion clinic, meanwhile, peaceful demonstrators Cliff Powell, Tonya Britton, Harriet Ashley, Ed Martin and Ester Mann were detained and cited, all for the "crime" of holding signs and assembling on a public sidewalk without a permit from the city.
Members of OSA are calling these arrests a "blatant unconstitutional assault" on the Christian demonstrators' rights, and Thorn points out that the pro-lifers do not intend to put up with it. "Steve Crampton, the attorney for the AFA Law Center, is trying to get a restraining order to allow pro-lifers to exert their First Amendment rights," he says.
Obviously, peaceful protesters should be able to hold up a sign and say "virtually anything at any place on public property and not be arrested," the Christian radio producer asserts, "and that's what the pro-lifers who were arrested apparently were doing."
Now is a crucial time in the war against abortion, Thorn contends. If abortion can be abolished in Mississippi through the closing of the last clinic, he believes that victory will bolster other pro-life efforts across the country.
