Protected–Unless You’re Pro-Life
On July 13, Andy Moore of Texas, woke to a knock on the door. Not so strange, if a bit earlyâ??perhaps a neighbour with a question, or a wrong addressâ?? But when he opened the front door, he found two men from FBI standing there; and they had a list of questions for him.
So what did Andy do to merit this federal attention? Deal drugs? Plan jihad? Illegally download thousands of movies and mp3 files?
Nope.
Andy is a sidewalk counselor, and Right to Life activist, and he stands in front of a late-term abortion facility most days of the week. He prays there. And he offers Crisis Pregnancy center flyers to the women who pass him, and a choice other than the killing of their unborn child.
Heâ??s also the son-in-law of prominent pro-life blogger and commentator Jill Stanek, who as a nurse at Christ Hospital in Oak Lawn, Ill., discovered the hospital doing late-term abortions, and then leaving the babies who survived in a utility closet to die. Sometimes, it was an agonising eight hours before the infants breathed their last.
So why was the FBI at his home again, this balmy July 13, bright and early?
Thatâ??s what we want to know; and itâ??s a question any individual valuing their Constitutional rights ought to be asking at this point.
Since Obama took office, numerous suits have been thrown at Right to Life proponents, and the administration has tried to throw FACE at the courts to rationalise their witch hunt. Often, those bringing the suit offer a â??settlementâ?? in which the counselors must pay thousands in a fine, and agree to stand some specified distance further away from the clinic if they choose to come back. This kind of intimidation has scared some off for good.
â??Targeted bullying by our government because of an individualâ??s viewpoint and willingness to share that message in the public square is intolerable,â?? says Allison Aranda, an attorney with LLDF (Life Legal Defense). And if cock-and-bull lawsuits are targeted bullying, sending the FBI out to a private residentâ??s home is downright gestapo.
Making the claim that the clinic had complained of trespassingâ??a misdemeanor of which their was no record, no proof, and which Moore has never been charged withâ??the two agents proceeded to ask a string of prying questions: Aside from church, what were Mooreâ??s affiliations? How long had he known his wife? Why did he believe in his cause? What was the belief system behind it? Did he know people had made complaints about him? And did he know thatâ??as an immigrantâ??he would be deported if he had a felony on his record?
A felony? Deported?
They also were kind enough to let him know their specific division was responsible for dealing with abortion cases, along with White Supremacy, and Hate Crimes. If this isnâ??t outright scare tactics, the KGB never tortured a confession out of a prisoner.
It is Planned Parenthood that was founded by a eugenicist, not Operation Rescue. But Obamaâ??s administration has set itself stridently against the Right to Life movement, and any link which puts a smudge on the perception of pro-lifers seems to be a greenlight from the get-go.
â??Thatâ??s why this election is so important. We need to get this administration out of the White House,â?? says Dana Cody, director of LLDF, â??What business does the FBI have investigating someone like that when thereâ??s no record of any misconduct, when Jill Stanek is openly stating her position on blogs? They just donâ??t like the viewpoint.â??
Moore hasnâ??t a speck on his record, and the most anyone has on him is â??complaintsâ??. Sounds like a job for the local sheriff, doesnâ??t it? Or more reasonably, a job for a journalist looking for a story, since all Moore had was his story, his passion for protecting the unborn and helping their mothers, and a dead-end dearth of any illegal activity.
The spine-chilling aspect in all of this is that I have done more radical activism than Mr. Moore. I have never been arrested, nor have I broken the law. But I stand in front of clinics. I have used a bullhorn at Obama fundraisers and in front of the Chinese Consulate, and I have written blogs and opinions since I was 12 defending life and attacking the legalisation of child-killing. So should the FBI show up to see me? Do I deserve a visit? The Survivors stand out on the sidewalk all year roundâ??in front of abortuaries, in front of and on the campuses of colleges and high schools, speaking the truth. The Survivors during Pro-Life Training Camp make a two-week marathon of prayerful, intense, truth-telling action, witnessing to the fact that human life is valuable at any stage, no matter how vulnerable. Have we merited the attention of the FBI?
What if our speech was no longer â??protectedâ?? speech under the First Amendment. After all, we are sub-categorised with Hate Crimes (a bosh category if ever there was one).
The First Amendment guarantees a right to free speech, free press, freedom to demonstrate in favor of or against a current administration, law, or idea.
We believe that it is inherently wrong, socially detrimental, and morally abhorrent to kill a human being, whatever age, size, or intelligence that human has attained. We speak that, act on it, demonstrate in favor of protection for pre-born people, and that constitutionally protected speech has been lumped with hate crimes under the current administration.
Andy Moore has given us a first glimpse of what the current administration will look like if we give them four more years. The HHS Mandate is not the end of the Obamaâ??s administrationâ??s evangelical support of the Culture of Deathâ??it is symbol on the books of what Obama believes about our rights, and our lives. That belief spells out the defense of life as â??hate crimeâ??, and demands a full-blooded participation in the killing of thousands of innocents each day by all of us, regardless of our beliefs. It is a declaration by those calling themselves pro-choice that they will give others no voice, and no choice in this matter.
â??Thatâ??s why this election is so important,â?? said Cody, director of Life Legal Defense, â??What business does the FBI have investigating someone like that when thereâ??s no record of any misconduct? They just donâ??t like the viewpoint.â??
That is why this election is so important. No child deserves the death penalty, and no mother deserves to be told that killing is a valid choice. And this is not just a viewpoint: this is the truth.
http://survivors.la/blog/index.php?id=352