Washington, D.C. Newsroom, May 10, 2022 / 05:14 am (CNA).
The offices of Oregon Right to Life in Salem, Oregon, were set on fire late Sunday night, the organization announced Monday.
“In the late evening on Sunday, May 8, the offices of Oregon Right to Life were attacked. An individual used incendiary devices, one of which exploded and caught the building on fire,” Oregon Right to Life said in a statement posted on its website.
“The office was vacant at the time, and no one was harmed. Fire and police departments responded quickly, minimizing damage to the building. The agencies are actively investigating the incident.”
“Understandably, our team is shaken up by this attack. We are committed to taking proper precautions to protect the safety of our staff as we move forward,” Lois Anderson, Oregon Right to Life executive director, said in the statement.
“We are thankful for the quick action of our first responders committed to maintaining a safe environment to operate in this community,” she said.
The attack is the latest in a wave of violence and other provocations against Catholic churches and pro-life organizations triggered by last week’s leak of a preliminary Supreme Court opinion in a Mississippi abortion case. Politico, which published the document, reported that a conservative majority on the court was poised to overturn the landmark decisions Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood v. Casey that institutionalized legal abortion nationwide.
Among other incidents, the headquarters of a Wisconsin Family Action, an organization that advocates for the unborn, traditional marriage, and religious liberty, were set on fire Sunday. “A molotov cocktail, which did not ignite, was thrown inside the building. It also appears a separate fire was started in response,” a police report said.
Graffiti left outside the building, located on the north side of Madison, Wisconsin, said, “If abortions aren’t safe than you aren’t either.”
A pro-abortion group, Ruth Sent Us, called last week for abortion supporters to disrupt Catholic Masses on Mother’s Day, and on Saturday threatened to burn the Eucharist. The group also has published the addresses of Supreme Court justice and called for rallies outside their homes. Demonstrators gathered outside the home of Associate Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr., who wrote the draft opinion, on Monday night.
Oregon Right to Life referenced the violence spree in its statement Monday.
“Oregon Right to Life has had long-standing opposition to the use of force, intimidation, and violence by any person pursuing pro-life activities,” the organization said.
“Our commitment to the well-being of all human life requires that we respect the inherent value and dignity of all people. Just as we condemn abortion and euthanasia, we oppose private acts that take human life, inflict bodily harm, or destroy another’s property. No board member, officer, employee, or chapter officer may participate in any illegal or harmful act against another person or property in pursuing pro-life activity. Oregon Right to Life will not knowingly do business with any organization or business which endorses violence in any way toward pro-abortion persons or businesses.”
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We will probably never know the identity of the person (?) who leaked the document, but the violence unleashed in the week or so since the leak, with much more undoubtedly to come, leads us inevitably to that latin phrase – cui bono?
Let’s also keep in mind that behavior like this is their norm, that abortion is their holy of holies, and that for the most part the ‘press’ is sympathetic to them, so they won’t really cover too much of it, and what little coverage there is will be painted in sympathetic tones – “expressing their frustration” will probably be a popular one this time around.
BTW – It sure would be nice if our ‘catholic’ president came out and condemned the violence, but – I ain’t holdin’ my breath on that score.
Right, Terence. BTW! Wouldn’t it also have been nice if our Frank Catholic would have spoken to our president and legislators about a Catholic respect for all life, especially innocent and vulnerable, dependent on the love and care and protection by others.
Are we surprised at the violence? No. As you point out, these are the same people who have advocated and agitated for surgical excision and chemical ablation of future generations. If they would destroy life in a nascent phase in an innermost place, why should we hope they respect life or reason at any stage, in any place, in any circumstance that fails to meet their expectation? They seem to say: ‘Bow down and worship Baphomet, you F—ing Catholics of Disgrace!’
St. Michael the Archangel, defend us.
Maybe prolifers should leave those states that are proving to be pro death as the answer and turn them over to God. They should come to places like Ohio which is very prolife in most places. We would welcome them. Diane
We have then these people who mouth the expression “love-making” on one hand, and who then issue death-dealing all the while. These attacks are “reaction formations,” designed to give the appearance of defending some noble cause, like the right to “love-making,” yet are really motivated by the desire to cloak the real animal nature of the perpetrators. Killing fetuses that are late term , especially is not an art of a civilized society. (Nancy Pelosi disagrees, it seems.) These people need to be placed in the category of the “godless.” That label – that divide – needs to be revealed in the public debate.