By Sarah Neely
Carbondale, Illinois – Records recently obtained by Operation Rescue reveal a sidewalk counselor was assaulted and threatened with a firearm while offering pregnant women life-affirming options outside of an Illinois abortion clinic.
On January 1, New Year’s Day, the sidewalk counselor was outside of Choices Center for Reproductive Health in Carbondale, Illinois. According to 911 records, a man driving a white truck with Texas plates was exiting the abortion clinic. He stopped, called out to the sidewalk counselor, and asked what he was doing. Assuming he was the boyfriend or husband of a client, the counselor crossed the street to talk to the man and offer him a pamphlet.
Instead of talking, the man suddenly threw what seemed to be a bottle of “milk and spit” at him, then placed a pistol in full-view on the dashboard – an illegal act in Illinois, where gun laws do not permit open carry for any firearm.
By the time the pro-lifer called 911, the white truck was gone. There is no indication the armed man was ever apprehended.
“Biden’s weaponized DOJ has amplified violence against pro-life citizens, letting it go unchecked for years,” said Troy Newman, President of Operation Rescue. “During his term in office, Biden chose to throw peaceful pro-lifers in prison while abortion radicals terrorizing pro-life organizations in the summer following Dobbs somehow never came to justice. That sends a message to people like this man brandishing a pistol: no one cares if you harm pro-lifers.”
In fact, one of the most violent attacks survived by a sidewalk counselor happened on Biden’s watch. In May of 2023, Mark Crosby and Richard Schaefer were viciously assaulted outside of a Planned Parenthood in Baltimore. Their assailant, Patrick Brice, pushed 84-year-old Schaefer over a flower pot and into a brick wall. Next, he pushed down 73-year-old Crosby, then proceeded to punch him and kick him in the face. Brice kicked Crosby so hard that he fractured the elderly man’s orbital frontal plate.
Last week, nearly two years after the attack, Brice was finally found guilty on two counts of second-degree assault and two counts of reckless endangerment. Sentencing is set for next month. However, according to Crosby, it took over a year to arrest Brice after the attack. And even then, despite the brutal nature of his crime, Brice was not jailed. He was, instead, released on his own recognizance.
In September of 2022, shortly after the fall of Roe and the pro-abortion ‘summer of rage’, 84-year-old Right to Life volunteer Joan Jacobson was shot by a man named Jacob Harvey. Jacobson was canvassing door-to-door against Proposal 3, a pro-abortion ballot measure. Harvey’s wife, who opened the door when Jacobson knocked, grew irate almost immediately. She began yelling at Jacobson and ordering her to leave. As Jacobson tried to make her way back to her car, followed by Harvey’s belligerent wife the whole way, Harvey fired and hit Jacobson in the shoulder. Despite having shot an unarmed, elderly woman who posed no threat to him or his property, Harvey only received probation.
“Pro-life advocates have dealt with this kind of violence and injustice for decades,” said Newman. “While the mainstream media and the politically-powered abortion lobby endlessly vilify the pro-life movement, real pro-life advocates endure being assaulted, intimidated, arrested, and hauled into court. The difference between us and our opponents is that we endure these real injustices for the sake of the preborn, while the abortion lobby feigns injustice and fills its pockets with the blood money of innocent babies.”
President Donald J. Trump has vowed to balance the scales for peaceful, pro-life citizens. On his first day as President, he promised to end the weaponization of the DOJ. Days later, he pardoned 23 pro-life citizens targeted or imprisoned by Biden for engaging in peaceful protest. During his campaign, Trump even had Mark Crosby as a guest at the 2024 Conservative Political Action Conference.
“Trump has proven that he is in our corner,” adds Newman. “And the movement needs that. After four years of our own President allowing abortion radicals to harm and abuse pro-life citizens with little to no consequence – not a surprising stance from an administration dedicated to harming and abusing preborn children – we now have an administration willing to protect Americans, protect free speech, and defund the child-killing industry in this nation.”
This report may be republished with inclusion of the following acknowledgement: “This article was originally published by Operation Rescue, a leading pro-life, Christian activist organization dedicated to exposing abortion abuses, demanding enforcement, saving innocent lives, and building an abortion-free America. The author, Sarah Neely, is Project Coordinator for Operation Rescue.”
