On the 36th anniversary of the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion, a man smashed his SUV into the entrance of the Planned Parenthood office in St. Paul this morning.
Although staff members have gotten used to protests, particularly on the anniversary of the ruling, “we certainly don’t expect this sort of thing,” said Sarah Stoesz, the president and chief executive officer of Planned Parenthood of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. “”It’s never happened before and we don’t expect it to happen again”
The man, who has refused to identify himself, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault, said police spokesman Peter Panos.
“We think it’s intentional because of Roe vs. Wade,” Panos said. “He’s not saying much. He was praying or chanting when the officers arrived.”
Hey, come on — he’s Pro-Life! Which is why he risked killing those women who were going to get their pap smears.
Seriously, while the Planned Parenthood facility on Ford Parkway in St. Paul is (for obvious reasons) secured like Ft. Knox, this guy could have killed people. I know, he was doing it for the babies in the womb™, but he seemed incredibly unconcerned about actual humans outside the womb. Which is par for the course for anti-choicers.
Meanwhile, Sarah Stoez notes the moral of the story:
“The irony is that if those protesters, like this man, would help us assure all people have access to reproductive health care, it would reduce the need for abortions,” she said.
Indeed. But of course, the anti-choice set is not interested in stopping abortion. They’re interested in keeping women’s sexuality under tight control. And so they have helped to advance policies such as abstinence-based education, which increases the rate of unwanted pregnancies. Heckuva job, anti-choicers.
(Via MNObserver)
This was the Ford Parkway location, not Mpls. And while i don’t know how secure the building is otherwise, I don’t know many places that build the front door to those kind of impact specifications.
i hope the charges are increased. I don’t think an aggravated assault charge covers the gravity of the offense. INAL, but perhaps attempted manslaughter is in order.
sadly (or frighteningly) many anti-choicers feel it is their obligation to protect “those who can’t protect themselves” and this is just one more example of them not caring about people who are already existing. apparently only potential people matter. there are also groups that post pics of doctors who perform abortions (i’m sure we can all guess the intent there). but it’s okay to kill or hurt people. i mean, this guy was just doing “god’s work,” right?
D’oh! I even was thinking of the Ford Parkway location (and knew it was on Ford Parkway) when I typed that. Of course, the Minneapolis location is secure too.
I’d like to see him get hit with terrorism charges. But I’m not holding my breath.
Hey, come on — he’s Pro-Life! Which is why he risked killing those women who were going to get their pap smears.
No shit. I’m pro-life, but taking a chance of killing someone to protest Roe vs. Wade is wrong for multiple reasons. Arresting this guy on any sustainable charge works for me.
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