Abortion Backer Attacks, Injures Pro-Lifers in Violent Assault

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Jul 6, 2011   |   12:50PM   |   Albuquerque, NM

A pro-abortion activist assaulted and injured peaceful pro-life advocates in a violent attack that occurred outside a late-term abortion business in New Mexico.

A woman who claimed to be a supporter of abortion engaged in the attack, which occurred yesterday outside Southwestern Women’s Options, a late-term abortion center where pro-life advocates have been offering information about alternatives to women headed there for abortions. The attack resulted in bloody wounds for one pro-life advocate.

According to Operation Rescue, a pro-life group working with the pro-life advocates at the abortion facility, the woman was angry and told the pro-lifers that she had once had an abortion. She then began to viciously punch and kick Bud Shaver, a former Operation Rescue intern, and a pro-life woman named Chris. The post-abortive woman used her keys as a weapon and inflicted a deep gash on Shaver’s head that paramedics said required stitches.

Shaver, who works with Project Defend Life, began videotaping after the attack began, but images he captured show an angry and violent flurry of punches and kicks as the pro-lifers threw up their arms to defend themselves. After the attack, the woman walked into the abortion center, but she left moments later and drove away before police could respond to Shaver’s 911 call for help.

Shaver told Operation Rescue that the woman was a passerby that stopped, but she did not appear to be headed to the abortion business or working at it as a staffer or volunteer. Police and paramedics eventually responded but the perpetrator was not apprehended, even though her description and license plate number were reported to the officers as well as the 911 dispatcher.

Operation Rescue president Troy Newman told LifeNews in a press release that he is disappointed police did not respond more quickly or thoroughly.

“The lax way in which the police are handling acts of violence against pro-lifers who are peacefully exercising their Constitutional Rights and offering practical help to needy women is shocking,” he said. “It sends the wrong message that violence on the part of abortion supporters is acceptable. We pray that this troubled woman is brought to justice and gets the help she needs with her anger and grief issues.”

The attack occurred just days after Operation Rescue released a recording of a 911 call during which a woman is reportedly injured by an abortion that leaves her unable to breathe and in apparent need of urgent medical care. The woman’s current status is unknown.

Operation Rescue has also obtained a series of 911 emergency recordings made from Southwestern Women’s Options where the violent attack took place that clearly indicate life-threatening abortion complications that required emergency hospitalization and the pro-life organization plans to make those public later this week.

The attack also occurred the day after the pro-life group Human Life International released a new report citing hundreds of cases of pro-abortion violence against pregnant women, pro-life advocates and pro-life organizations.