Arkansas Man Nearly Hits Pro-Life Advocates With Car Outside Abortion Center
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 2, 2008
Fayetville, AR (LifeNews.com) — An Arkansas man nearly hit a group of pro-life outside an abortion business on Tuesday afternoon in this northwest city. Jason Bryant Shireman, 42, was apprehended by police and charged with three counts of aggravated assault following the incident.
The pro-life advocates were standing on the curb just off of College Avenue in front of the Fayetteville Women’s Clinic abortion business.
According to the Northwest Arkansas Times, witnesses at the scene say Shireman purposefully drove his suburban onto the curb in an attempt to hit or scare the sidewalk counselors outside the abortion center.
The pro-life advocates consisted mostly of students from Subiaco Academy who were taking part in the 40 Days of Life event. They were praying for the staff of the abortion facility and women going there for abortions at the time of the incident.
The paper indicated Shireman told police that he drove onto the sidewalk to show the pro-life students "what he thought about them" but denied trying to hit them with the vehicle.
The Times said Shireman was taken to the Washington County jail and later released on a $3,500 bond. He will make an appearance in court on October 29.
Vehicles have been used in the past to target pro-life advocates — with Wichita, Kansas abortion practitioner George Tiller allegedly hitting pro-life advocate Mark Gietzen in an April 2006 incident.
In the incident in question, Gietzen says that as he and another man were measuring the driveway to Tiller’s Women’s Health Care Services abortion center to comply with a law keeping pro-life advocates at a certain distance from it.
According to eyewitnesses, Tiller accelerated his Jeep Grand Cherokee directly at them, even turning to continue to aim at them as they began to move out of the way. Tiller’s Jeep struck Gietzen as he attempted to move, bruising his arm and leg, and causing pain for several months.
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