When we found out that the new owner of the South Wind Women’s Center abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas had a practice in our own backyard, we knew we had to stage a full-blown protest outside her office, which we did.
Operation Rescue’s Troy Newman broke the news earlier this month that Dr. Cheryl Chastine had recently become the owner of George Tiller’s former abortion facility—even though she had “hop[ed] not to be mentioned by name”—while simultaneously working as a family practitioner at Total Wellness Inc. in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park.
A crowd of 40 pro-life activists lined the sidewalks in front of Chastine’s office and across the street, with many holding “Stop Abortion Now” signs or arrow-shaped signs saying simply “Abortionist” that we had printed specifically for this occasion. Among those who took part in the protest were our good friends Jill Stanek, pro-life blogger extraordinaire, and Margie Breen, the Respect Life Office Director of the Archdiocese of Chicago.
Several pro-lifers also held large graphic images of aborted babies, along with the message “Abortion is not health care,” without which any protest of an abortionist’s private office simply would not be complete.
Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric Scheidler explained to LifeSiteNews the purpose of the protest:
We’re not here to make anybody be unemployed, but if it’s hard to be a legitimate doctor and an abortionist, if it’s harder to do abortions, if we can do anything to make the practice of abortion less attractive to physicians—especially young physicians like Dr. Chastine—so much the better.
A group of pro-lifers distributed flyers to patients on their way into Total Wellness, as well as other passersby, encouraging them to tell Dr. Chastine to get out of the abortion industry. Many of those who received flyers, including a nearby business owner, were shocked to find out that their neighbor is an abortionist.
About midway through the 90-minute protest, a steady rain began to fall and continued until 1:00, our scheduled end-time. But rather than pack up and go home, our stalwart pro-life activists maintained their posts—even the first-timer who initially said he had just gotten over a case of pneumonia and was concerned he might have to leave early.
As Eric Scheidler told LifeSiteNews, the strong turnout for this protest shows that “pro-lifers are really energized for this kind of activism that goes right to the heart of the abortion cartel.”
This was the first protest outside abortionist Cheryl Chastine’s office, and everyone agreed it should not be the last.
LifeNews Note: John Jansen writes for the Pro-Life Action League.
