Amherst -- Assault, Vandalism (3 incidents), Violation of Civil Rights, and Threats of Violence (4 incidents)        Desiring to start a debate about abortion during Holy Week of 2003, members of the University of Massaschusetts Republican Club purchased lumber and erected 160 white crosses, representing the number of babies who die each hour in this country due to abortion. On Sunday night, April 13, the students set up the crosses to simulate an "abortion graveyard."        Signs with provocative messages were interspersed through the graveyard. One sign explained the white crosses: "Abortion kills 160 babies in the U.S. every hour." Another said "Abortion doesn't make you unpregnant, it makes you the mother of a dead baby."        Pro-abortionists, who say they love peace and free speech, immediately began to assault the pro-lifers, and completely destroyed their display of crosses.        First, the pro-aborts threw two pro-life signs into the campus pond and ran away. The next day, they tried to destroy the crosses with a soccer ball.        Kiera Manikoff, a political science major and a junior, was working to repair the damage done to the display. A female pro-abort ran up, picked up one of the crosses, and broke it over her knee. Then she began destroying the signs. Manikoff walked over with her tools and confronted the woman. The woman responded by telling Manikoff she found the display "horribly offensive." Then the encounter took a physical turn. She grabbed the hammer out of Manikoff's hand, and gestured with it in a threatening manner. A scuffle ensued as Manikoff attempted to prevent the larger woman from swinging the hammer. Manikoff ended up on the ground after her assailant pushed her.        Although over a dozen spectators were watching the altercation, only two young men, whom Manikoff described as teenagers, came to her assistance. "We saw the whole thing. We're sorry we couldn't get here in time to get her off you," they said.        The campus police were called, and Manikoff gave them her statement, as did the other woman. The police log describes it: "Caller reporting that she had an altercation with a member of a group who have set up an anti-abortion demonstration on the lawn outside the Earthfood market." They have not released the name of Manikoff's assailant.        UMass Deputy Police Chief Patrick Archibald told the Daily Hampshire Gazette that "The incident is still under review by the district attorney's office. We feel pretty confident those charges [vandalism and assault] will go forward, as well as civil rights charges."        Regarding the civil rights charge, Manikoff said a campus officer contacted her on Tuesday, April 15, and told her that the other woman had "inhibited your right to express yourself."        The pro-life students also were forced to call police four times in three days when gangs of pro-abortion thugs threatened to physically assault them.        Then the cowardly pro-aborts did at night what they could not accomplish during the day. On the night of April 18, they completely destroyed the display of 160 white crosses. The next morning, police officers found the crosses broken and strewn around the area, with some in a nearby garbage can, he said.        Cheryl B. Wilson. "Incident Reported at UMass Abortion Protest." Daily Hampshire Gazette, April 16, 2003; "U. Massachusetts Student Assaults Pro-Lifer Putting Up Display." Steve Ertelt's Pro-Life Infonet at http://www.prolifeinfo.org, April 17, 2003; Nick Grabbe. "Anti-Abortion Display at UMass Destroyed." Daily Hampshire Gazette, April 17, 2003; Izzy Lyman. "Violent Reactions to Pro-Life Exhibit at UMass/Amherst." Massachusetts News, April 18, 2003; "College Pro-Life Display Prompts Violence: Woman Offended by White Crosses Allegedly Assaults Co-Ed." WorldNetDaily, April 19, 2003; "Following Assault, UMass Pro-Life Display Destroyed." Steve Ertelt's Pro-Life Infonet, April 21, 2003. back to top Boston -- Manslaughter        In January of 1975, abortionist Kenneth Edelin, a member of the National Abortion Federation (NAF) Standards Committee, aborted a live and viable 22-week baby boy and then deliberately smothered him. He was subsequently convicted of manslaughter, but the conviction was overturned because of improper jury instructions.        This killing did not seem to hamper his career, however; in 1979, he became the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Boston University Medical School, and, in 1990, he became Chairman of the Board of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).        Omaha World-Herald, October 19, 1979; Philadelphia Inquirer, August 2, 1981; "Doctor Edelin's Appeal Postponed Until April." National Right to Life News, February 1976, page 6; "Edelin Appeal Heard." National Right to Life News, May 1976, page 15; Dexter Duggan. "Paperback Zeroes In On Questions Ignored By Edelin Media Coverage." National Right to Life News, February 1977, page 5; "Reaction To Edelin Case." National Right to Life News, February 1977, page 12; "Dr. Edelin Refuses Face-To-Face Debate." National Right to Life News, May 1977, page 2; "Edelin Promoted." National Right to Life News, April 1979, page 4; Edelin is listed as chairman of the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL) Medical Advisory Committee in a 1978 NARAL fundraising letter entitled "Your Town Could Be Next ..." Also see "Ppersonalities." Communiqu�, March 1, 1991, page 4, by the American Life League. Boston -- Attempted Murder (2 incidents)        On two occasions, pro-abortionists fired rifle bullets through the windows of rescue leader Father Tom Carleton's home while he was there.        "From the Mail." The Wanderer, December 31, 1998, page 11. Boston -- Assault (3 incidents), Death Threat, Vandalism and Destruction of Property        Students Matt Progen and Dave Peterson spent nearly $200 of their own money to set up a display of 160 white crosses symbolizing the number of abortions performed every hour in the United States at the University of Massachusetts.        The day after the display was set up, several pro-life students who were guarding the display were physically assaulted by pro-abortionists who cannot stand free speech they disagree with. The pro-aborts were trying to tear down the crosses in broad daylight, and punched and pushed the pro-lifers who tried to stop their vandalism. One pro-abortionist even threatened a pro-life woman with a hammer.        Two days later, pro-aborts destroyed the entire display, either breaking the crosses or throwing them into a nearby garbage can. As expected, the University of Massachusetts authorities refused to take action against the pro-abortion students who had threatened and assaulted the pro-lifers, but threatened the pro-lifers with Code of Student Conduct violations because they did not go through the proper channels to put up the display.        The morning after the pro-life display was destroyed, Progen stood at the site for six hours in the cold with police tape on his mouth, and a sign on his chest reading "Silenced by the Radical Left." He says the display has prompted many of his fellow students on campus to question rather than accept abortion.        Jim Brown and Rusty Pugh. "Pro-Life `Cross' Display at UMass Evokes Physical Threats, Vandalism." Agape Press, April 22, 2003. Boston -- Assault        In August 1976, a cowardly 20-year-old pro-abortionist beat 85-year old Ignatius O'Connor so badly that he was hospitalized for three months.        "O'Connor Braves Death Threats; Leads Prayer March And Vigil." ALL About Issues, September-October 1992, page 20. Boston area [Brookline] -- Assault        Stephen Parsons is a hero to pro-abortionists because he is the abortion mill security guard who protected the Repro Associates abortion mill from John C. Salvi's deadly rampage on December 30, 1994.        On January 9, 1998, he attacked a 72-year old woman, shoving her and screaming at her. On other occasions, he has displayed his handgun and mace canister to pro-lifers in a threatening manner. Judge Herbert N. Goodwin released Parsons from custody on $250 bail and ordered him not to return to the abortion mill, and his defenders whined that this would "destroy his livelihood."        Daniel Vasquez. "Guard Seen as Hero in Salvi Case Charged With Assault Near Clinic." The Boston Globe, February 13, 1998. Boston -- Death Threats (5 incidents)        On December 27, 2001, abortionist Rapin Osathanondh, head of the Brigham and Women's Hospital abortion mill, threatened to kill five of his nurses. During a staff meeting, he said "I'm going to execute people. I'm going to kill you. I'm going to execute you, Texas-style." The incident is alleged to have occurred just a day after Michael McDermott allegedly gunned down seven co-workers at a Wakefield office. The timing of the incident only heightened the nurses' fear, sources said.        A police report says Osathanondh was suspended, but a hospital spokesperson said the he has voluntarily stepped down pending resolution of the matter. According to the police report, the nurses said Osathanondh was upset about some forms that had "disappeared" from the nurses station. Sources said the incident occurred just days before a planned inspection by the agency that accredits hospitals.        The complaint said "All of us . . . felt threatened and afraid and voiced our concerns to each other. Everyone felt something should be done, but we were afraid of retribution and making [the doctor] more angry and provoking him into doing something -- like shooting us." The police report identified the nurses as Kathie McCarthy, Martha Hester, Silleta Davis, Lenor Rodriguez and Samantha Legara.        In early 2001, the Brigham and Women's Hospital abortion mill's late-term abortion program shut down. Predictably, people who never met an abortion they didn't like immediately began crying "victim."        Melissa Kogut, executive director for the Massachusetts chapter of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League (NARRAL), defended Osathanondh, saying that "He clearly cares about the right to choose. I was sorry to read that he's not going to be practicing, because we do have a provider shortage in Massachusetts."        The Boston Globe called this late-term abortion program "the biggest of its kind in the region," and said that its closing caused a "crisis" for women reminiscent of the desperate search for abortion providers 30 years ago."        What is the "crisis?"        The Globe said that the late-term abortion programs at other Boston hospitals are literally "swamped," and that "Those too poor to travel are faced with choices thought long past: having the baby despite tests showing they or their fetus are at risk, or getting an abortion outside the hospital setting recommended for the high-risk operation."        We have to ask ourselves a pertinent question here. The Boston Globe and other big-city newspapers have repeatedly quoted the pro-abortion line that late-term abortions are "tragic but rare." If they are so "rare," why are several late-term abortion programs in a small area of Massachusetts "swamped?"        The Globe said that about 2,000 women seek abortions after 14 weeks gestation each year in Massachusetts, almost all of them for fatal fetal birth defects.        Pam Nourse, spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts, demonstrated the pro-abortion fixation on abortion when she heartlessly said "Is there a problem? Absolutely yes. We know about at least one person who fell through the cracks. ... She had to go ahead with her pregnancy."        Dr. Benjamin Sachs, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at Beth Israel Deaconess, said that "The vast majority [of late-term abortions] are for women with serious medical problems. They are people like very, very young girls who are the victim of rape or incest, and women who discovered a fetus with major birth defects."        This, of course, is completely at odds with the statistics that show such cases make up less than one percent of all abortions.        "Abortion Practitioner Steps Down After Threatening Nurses." Boston Herald, February 17, 2001; Lisa Lipman. "Doctor Who Allegedly Threatened Nurses Appears in Court." Associated Press, February 20, 2001; "Abortion Practitioner Steps Down After Threatening Nurses." Steven Ertelt's Pro-Life Infonet at http://www.prolifeinfo.org/infonet.html, February 21, 2001; Larry Tye. "Access to Late-Term Abortion Declines." Boston Globe, March 19, 2001, page A01. Boston Area [Cambridge] -- Vandalism (8 incidents)        Harvard is supposed to be the home of the elite, but is just the same as any other college when it comes to skulking pro-abortionists trying to stamp out any expression they do not agree with.        Harvard Right to Life (HRL) received approval to put up its "Natalie" posters, which depict a preborn child in progressive stages of development. But sneaky pro-abortionists could not stand the posters, and widely vandalized them.        The only pro-abort caught was teaching fellow Elgin K. Eckert on February 13, 2003, who was tearing down a poster in Boylston Hall. She admitted to vandalizing the poster when she was caught, but said that she was offended by it, and that the destruction of the poster was an accident. She said "My scarf got stuck in one of the staples [affixing the poster]."        Eventually, the Harvard Undergraduate Council passed a resolution last night calling for strict enforcement of the University's free speech guarantees. It went so far as to pledge to reimburse any group for posters that are destroyed.        The Council also demanded that the College take disciplinary action against those who destroy materials posted by approved student organizations. The resolution reads "Any illegal poster destruction potentially inhibits free exchange and free expression of Harvard students and student groups."        But the intolerant pro-abortionists did not pay attention.        In October 2003, Harvard Right to Life pinned about 400 anti-abortion posters on bulletin boards in first-year dormitories and undergraduate Houses. Just a few days later, pro-aborts had torn down or defaced the posters.        The 2003 posters showed a picture of a woman holding a baby and the quote, "Women Deserve Better."        A more inoffensive pro-life poster can scarcely be imagined, but we must remember that pro-aborts hate all speech that they do not agree with, and that they feel compelled to destroy or silence all speech that opposes abortion -- while the whole time standing on their rights and bleating about how they must be allowed to promote abortion.        HRL President Daniel R. Tapia said "In most of the houses, about half of the posters are torn down within a day." HRL member Paul C. Shultz, who is also a Crimson editor, said he has "had to re-poster five times in four days" in DeWolfe House. Philip D. Powell said he put 15 posters in Eliot House, and after a day, only six remained.        Powell also said HRL posters were defaced. On one sign, according to Powell, someone had scrawled a message calling those who oppose abortion "chauvinist, gun-toting, Christian fundamentalists."        An Eliot House resident, Julia K. Clarke `06, acknowledged that she removed an HRL poster on a bulletin board near the door of her dorm on the first floor. She said "I took the poster down and tore it up." She said that the poster was "coercive" and imposing on her "personal space. ... That's moral judgment I don't want to look at when I go into my room everyday. It was right outside my door and it was making me feel uncomfortable. Some posters cross the line."        The "line" for pro-aborts is simply what they don't like.        William B. Higgins. "UC Calls For Free Speech Guarantees." The Harvard Crimson Online, March 3, 2003; Tina Wang. "Group Claims Right-to-Life Posters Torn Down, Defaced." The Harvard Crimson, October 20, 2003. Boston -- Vandalism (5 incidents)        Pro-abortionists vandalized Catholic churches in Brookline, Chestnut Hill, Randolph, Stoughton and Wellesley by pouring glue into door locks and spraying pro-abortion slogans on their walls such as "This building is a breeding ground for the hatred of women," and "abortion is not a crime."        HLI Newswire, May 24, 1993; "Churches Targeted for Vandalism." Life Advocate, July 1993, page 23. Boston -- Malpractice (2 incidents) and Gross Negligence (2 incidents)        We were all supposed to believe that the legalization of abortion got rid of all those nasty back-alley abortion mills.        It was all just another pro-abortion lie.        Abortionist Jian Wu operated an abortion mill from his officd that was so poorly equipped that it did not even have running water. It was completely non-sterile, and had no assistant or emergency equipment on hand, according to a report issued on May 9, 2003 by the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Medicine.        He routinely charged women $500 cash for nighmarish vacuum aspiration abortions during which he would berate them if they misbehaved. The Board report stated that "Patient A was crying from the pain. The Respondent (Wu) told Patient A if this persisted, he would not finish the procedure."        Wu aborted one woman, then held up his fist when she asked how big the baby was. But a month later she was back, still pregnant.        Although the woman wasn't sure how long she had been pregnant, Wu never performed an ultrasound on her to determine how far along she was, the Medical Board's report said. Nor did he ever check her vital signs or perform any lab tests on her blood in several appointments, all considered essential procedures when normally treating pregnant women.        When she returned to Wu the second time, still pregnant, he again performed the painful vacuum aspiration procedure, but kept telling her she must be more than three months pregnant, and that her baby was too big. He finally stopped, telling her he couldn't get the baby out.        Instead, he tried to induce contractions. He told her to call him if she started bleeding, and to go to the hospital if the baby didn't come out. The report does not state what she was supposed to do if she began to miscarry the baby.        When the woman began experiencing pain, she went to St. Elizabeth's Medical Center in Brighton, where a nurse found her to have a fever of 102.8 degrees. She delivered a 1-pound-2-ounce fully formed baby in the Emergency Room. Doctors estimated the baby was 16 to 20 weeks old.        In its final report, the Medical Board found that Wu had "engaged in conduct which places into question his competence to practice medicine, including, but not limited to, practicing medicine with gross negligence." The Board also found that Wu placed the patient "at grave risk for hemorrhage, uterine perforation, and septic abortion," which the Board noted can cause death without proper post-abortion follow-up.        On March 5, 2003, the Medical Board shut down Wu's abortion mill, and in May 2003, he voluntarily agreed to have his license to practice medicine suspended indefinitely.        Under the agreement with the Board, he must pass a skills assessment before he will be allowed to practice. He is barred from practicing obstetrics or gynecology or performing surgical procedures and must show that any new office meets sanitary standards.        Alice Dembner. "Board Suspends Malden Doctor: Mistakes Cited in Abortion." The Boston Globe, May 8, 2003, page B11; Steve Ertelt's Pro-Life Infonet at http://www.prolifeinfo.org, May 8, 2003; "Doctor Suspended After Two Botched Abortion Attempts." LifeSite Daily News, May 9, 2003; "Update on Massachusetts Abortionist Who Loses Medical License." Steve Ertelt's Pro-Life Infonet at http://www.prolifeinfo.org, May 11, 2003. Boston -- Harassment and Destruction of Property        There is a group called the Pro-Life Alliance of Gays and Lesbians, or PLAGAL. When this group tried to set up a table at Boston's 1995 Gay and Lesbian Pride Festival, they were surrounded by a gang of lesbians who destroyed their literature and chanted "fascists!" When they called the police, the police told them that they could not insure their safety, and that PLAGAL would have to leave.        "The Heckler's Veto." Washington Post, July 19, 1995, page A21. Boston -- Fraud and Sexual Misconduct        Abortionist Howard J. Silverman, the most prolific abortionist in Massachusetts and the owner of a chain of clinics (Repro Associates; 10,000 abortions in four clinics per year), was the subject of a 1995 federal probe for rigging ultrasound tests in order to overcharge women for their abortions.        The abortionist, a member of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), also admitted to charges of sexual misconduct with a patient. He placed his mouth on her breasts on two separate occasions for several minutes. He lost or had suspended his privileges at Brigham and Women's Hospital, Newton-Wellesley Hospital, New England Baptist Hospital, and Hahnemann Hospital, as well as Children's Hospital, which had referred to him the patient. He advertised his abortion mills as "clinics" in the Yellow Pages, although they did not meet the standard criteria for clinics.        Boston Globe, September 2 and 6, 1989; Cape Cod Times, May 18, 1989 and May 31, 1990; Paul Likoudis. "Investigators Cast a Wide Net To Find Abortionist's Murderer." The Wanderer, December 10, 1998, pages 1 and 10. back to top Return To State By State Documentation © 2003 Abortion Violence