In Tennessee, a man pulled a gun on pro-life protestors outside the Bristol Women’s abortion facility. According to WCYB News, Derrick Doss was arrested and charged with aggravated assault after the incident. Apparently the pro-life protesters at the facility said Ross approached them as he was walking into the office and then pulled his gun out of his holster.
However, Doss shared a completely different account of the incident and claims he never pulled out his gun. Capt. Charlie Thomas said, “Derrick Doss was at the clinic with his girlfriend. They were confronted by some of the protestors, and he went to his vehicle and retrieved a handgun.”
The complainant told police that after an argument ensued, Doss went to his vehicle, retrieved a handgun, and began to load it by racking the slide.
Thomas said Doss was found to be in possession of a handgun. After reviewing the evidence and witness statements, Doss was charged and taken to the Sullivan County Jail.
Thomas said Doss told officers he never took the gun out of the holster.
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The women’s center, according to its website, offers abortion and routine gynecological services to women of all ages. Individuals regularly stand along West State Street to protest the clinic.
As LifeNews previously reported, in 2012 a South Carolina abortionist pulled out a gun on 40 Days for Life protesters at Charleston Women’s Medical Center. 40 Days for Life participant, John Karafa, explained that the abortionist even pointed the gun at them. He said, “It was shocking to see that he [Boyle] was pointing a gun at us. Our lives should not be threatened because we are exercising our right to peacefully pray….A mere slap on the wrist is insufficient and will not keep him from threatening us with his gun in the future.”
Initially, Boyle was arrested for “aggravated assault with a firearm,” but this was later reduced to “presenting a firearm” and further reduced to “disorderly conduct,” a charge typically given for public drunkenness. Of course, the abortion facility claimed that three pro-lifers surrounded Dr. Boyle’s vehicle but there was no evidence that this actually happened.
Additionally, pro-life advocates were frustrated that they were prohibited from peacefully passing out literature while pro-abortion advocates are often only given a slap on the wrist for their crimes.
Tom Brejcha, president and chief counsel of the Thomas More Society, explained: “The U.S. Justice Department has launched federal prosecutions against pro-life advocates across the country for merely offering literature to cars entering Planned Parenthood, calling this pristine exercise of basic First Amendment rights a criminal ‘obstruction’ of ‘access’ to abortion facilities when cars suffer only slight delays in turning into driveways. These cases have been defeated, albeit at great expense. Yet such threats of deadly force against pro-lifers as occurred here in Charleston are now brushed off with a mere slap on the wrist.”
He concluded, “Public safety is paramount, and it is high time that pro-lifers’ rights are fully and equally protected.”
