Pro-Life Cross Display in Iowa Hit by Abortion Vandalsim

State   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 5, 2011   |   4:55PM   |   Cedar Falls, IA

A pro-life display of crosses meant to memorialize unborn children killed by abortions is the latest to suffer from pro-abortion vandalism following an incident at a Pennsylvania college.

Students at Valley Lutheran High School spent Monday morning placing a set of 1,000 white crosses into the ground that were torn up that night and subject to spray paint from abortion advocates who plastered anti-Christian messages on them. On Tuesday, the students worked to set the crosses up again and clean up following the vandalism.

The WCF Courier indicates the students have set up the cross display annually and experienced another case of vandalism six years ago. Lutherans for Life sponsors the display and moves it to different churches in the area in order to educate people about the number of unborn children killed in abortions since Roe v. Wade was handed down in 1973. The newspaper says the vandalism six years ago came in the form of a driver who ran over the crosses with his vehicle.

Valley Lutheran High School Principal Nathan Richter told the Courier he’s not surprised the pro-life display became a target for detractors.

“In the back of our mind we were aware something like this could happen. We just knew we would fix it and keep it up through Friday,” Richter said. Students and Richter worked to put crosses back in the ground, repair broken ones, and fix the sign explaining the display where messages against Jesus Christ were painted.

Richter said the incident was reported to Cedar Falls police, which promised to send patrols to the area to monitor the display in the coming days.

Just two weeks ago, during the Holy Week leading up to Easter, a group of pro-abortion activists vandalized and desecrated a Christian pro-life display students at Clarion University put up at their Pennsylvania campus.

The display, called the Cemetery of the Innocents, features crosses erected to memorialize the 53 million unborn children who have been killed in abortions since Roe v. Wade allowed virtually unlimited abortions in 1973.

In their attack, pro-abortion students vandalized the Clarion University Students for Life display by turning the crosses upside-down to form satanic symbols, and they dripped fake blood over many of the crosses the took up from the ground and placed in a pile. The abortion advocate then wrote the word “Pro-Choice” in the “blood” on the sidewalk in front of the sign the pro-life students put in front of their display to explain its meaning.