Pro-Life Group Considers Suing Over 'Truth Truck' Drivers' Oklahoma Arrest

by Bill Fancher and Jenni Parker
October 10, 2006

(AgapePress) - - An Operation Rescue "truth truck" and two drivers were taken into custody by Oklahoma City Police this past weekend for driving through a wealthy neighborhood where an abortionist lives. The two pro-life workers were placed under citizen's arrest by an influential neighbor of abortion doctor Nareshkumar Patel and were taken into police custody, jailed, and held overnight.

Operation Rescue's Truth Trucks are part of a campaign by the pro-life organization to raise awareness of the inhumane and brutal nature of abortion. These panel trucks, covered with graphic, billboard-sized, full-color images of aborted fetuses, have been driven across the U.S. and have often appeared in conjunction with various pro-life events and demonstrations.

According to Operation Rescue president Troy Newman, "We conduct neighborhood prayer walks for abortionists because they live such troubled lives and are in desperate need of redemption through Jesus Christ." Abortionist Nareshkumar Patel has had a number of run-ins with the law, including being under investigation in 1992 after partially burned bodies of aborted babies were found in a field he owned.

Also, in 1993, a patient of Patel's accused the abortion doctor of sexual battery and other offenses. And a reprimand for unprofessional conduct appears on his medical license due to his failure to maintain dispensing records for dangerous drugs.

According to the pro-life group, police arrested the Truth Truck drivers in Oklahoma City after a group of Christians prayed outside Patel's home; however, the group had not been asked to leave the gated community before the arrests took place. In fact, the pro-life demonstrators report that the police blocked the entrance of the community to prevent the group's exit, and the Truth Truck, with its large image of an aborted baby on each side, seemed to be the focus of certain community members' ire.

"The neighborhood was so incensed by this -- a very affluent neighborhood -- that they had the truck impounded and the two drivers arrested," Newman notes. "We believe that this is an egregious and outlandish constitutional violation," he says, "so we're considering a lawsuit."

The pro-life leader says Operation Rescue is "thankful that both the truck and these two people are out of jail." But even though the two drivers were released on Sunday, the day after their arrests, and the truck was returned from the impound lot, he says that does not make up for their arrests. The organization is considering filing suit for religious persecution and violation of the men's civil rights.

Newman says it is getting difficult to be a pro-life advocate these days due to the hatred aimed at those expressing religious values. "It's getting very tough to express your views," he asserts, "particularly when they fly in the face of the prevailing political opinions of the day."

Nowadays, the Operation Rescue spokesman notes, "When you express your views against child killing or even homosexuality, you find yourself at odds with the IRS, the local law enforcement agencies, sometimes even federal law enforcement agencies." Nevertheless, he says his group will continue to conduct these kinds of pro-life events, "even though there is often persecution that accompanies them."

Many of Operation Rescue's prayers for abortionists like Patel have been answered, Newman contends. He says the pro-life activist organization has seen dozens of abortionists stop their practice of killing innocent children in the womb, an outcome he insists is "certainly worth a night in jail."