News video from Albuquerque’s Channel 13 reveals that threatening man had a trunk full of firearms
Albuquerque, NM – Additional information has come out concerning the incident on August 25, 2010, where a man threatened to shoot two pro-life women outside Curtis Boyd’s late-term abortion mill in Albuquerque, New Mexico. That information raises questions of coerced and/or forced abortions there.
The man, identified in police reports as Hal Cox of Arizona, brought his 16-year old daughter to Boyd’s Southwestern Women’s Options for an abortion and became upset when his wife and daughter voluntarily approached two sidewalk counselors that spoke with them about abortion alternatives. He flashed what appeared to be a gun and threatened to shoot them if they said anything else to his daughter.
Police were called to the scene where they discovered that Cox was in immediate possession of a magazine filled with bullets. They also discovered a number of firearms in the trunk of his vehicle. Police confiscated the weapons.
“This raises an important question of whether or not this young lady held any fear for her armed father, and whether she was seeking an abortion of her own free will,” said Operation Rescue President Troy Newman. “We know that there is a silent epidemic of coerced abortions and even forced abortions going on in this country.”
“Pregnancy is a vulnerable time for women,” said Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor for Operation Rescue. “After over two decades of working with abortion-bound women, it has been my experience that a high percentage of them feel like they have no other choice than to abort because of pressure from family and even because of fear of domestic violence.”
Two cases in point are the dramatic stories of Michelle Armesto-Berg from Kansas and Caitlin Bruce from Michigan.
Armesto-Berg was coerced into an abortion she did not want out of fear that her family would disown her. Her abortion was started before the clinic staff obtained written consent. She gave stunning testimony of her ordeal before a Kansas Legislative Committee in 2007.
Bruce filed a lawsuit against abortionist Alberto Hodari for a forced abortion she endured in 2008. She says she withdrew her consent for an abortion after viewing an ultrasound image of her pre-born baby. According to Bruce, Hodari ordered a male clinic worker to hold her down while Hodari forced the abortion on her. Her mouth was covered to muffle her screams.
These stories are just the tip of a very large iceberg. More needs to be done to insure that vulnerable women do not have to endure abortions they do not want.
Boyd’s clinic is of particular concern because women come to it from all over the country for late-term abortions that are not legal or available in their home states. Studies show that domestic violence against women actually increases in their last four months of pregnancy, a time during which Boyd particularly solicits women for abortions.
“We hope that the police thoroughly investigate the Cox case to determine if the young woman was coerced or aborted out of fear for her safety. But unfortunately, in New Mexico abortion laws are so permissive that there is likely no statute that could punish a person for forcing or coercing an abortion on an unwilling woman,” said Sullenger. “This lax attitude toward abortion coercion and accompanying domestic violence places women and their wanted babies in grave risk. It is really outrageous that more hasn’t already been done to protect women at this vulnerable time of their lives.”
As for Cox, his case has been referred to the district attorney, who will evaluate it to see if charges should be filed.
“If they let this man walk away without charges this will send the wrong message to bullies who want to threaten peaceful pro-lifers and coerce young girls into unwanted abortions, as we suspect may have been the case in this instance,” said Newman. “They need to make an example out of Mr. Cox in order to stem the violence inside and outside the abortion clinic.”
See original story with photos
[Note: The news video incorrectly identifies Bud Shaver as a member of Operation Rescue. Mr. Shaver is a former intern with Operation Rescue, but currently works with Project Defending Life in Albuquerque, NM.]
