ARTICLES

Criminal Culture

Pro-abortion Violence Ignored by Politicians and Media

By Mitch Feldman

The link between criminal behavior and legal abortions in California has been brought to light in a report published by California Right to Life Inc. In a summary of pro-abortion violence in the U.S., the report lists 2, 297 incidents of pro-abortion violence and illegal activities that could be verified. The report also lists crimes committed by abortionists in California by city, citing the original sources of information. The source for much of the information came from the medical board of California, which is responsible for licensing and bringing disciplinary action against state physicians. The Abortion Crime Report was published in July and sent to every major newspaper in California as well as legislators on committees reviewing related bills. The report categorizes and documents crimes committed by abortionists including murder, attempted murder, manslaughter, torture, kidnapping, rape, stalking, death threats, bomb threats (including false-threat reports from alleged pro-lifers), sex crimes, conspiracy, drug crimes, property crimes, medical crimes and fraud-related crimes.

The pro-life expose was written as a response to a legislative report by Gregory De Giere, a state senate staffer, Crimes Against Reproductive Rights in California. The De Giere report was submitted to bolster support for a bill by State Senator Deborah Ortiz of Sacramento. Senate bill 780 would make sidewalk counseling at abortion clinics or attempting to dissuade patients from procuring abortions an act of harassment and a possible "hate crime." The state senate's web site describes the bill's topic as "protection of the exercise of constitutional rights." At press time, the bill has passed both houses and now sits on the governor's desk awaiting his signature.

In the first part of the California Right to Life report, two incidents are described in which militant pro-abortion activists, Frank Mendiola and David Friedman created a media frenzy by falsely reporting acts of violence and bomb threats made against them, clinics and pro-abortion legislators by pro-lifers. In Mendiola's case, the police concluded that he had made the threatening phone calls himself, which he later confessed to. The Los Angeles Times reported the tragic details of an illegal abortion endured by his twin sister. Mendiola later confessed that he had no twin sister. In another case, David Friedman, a NOW organizer from Palm Springs, claimed that he endured phoned death threats, ammunition left on his car and assault, wearing an ace bandage over his arm at a news conference. Palm Springs police suspended the investigation for lack of leads and eventually documents were found revealing Friedman's history of phony police reports and false allegations of violence while a resident of Concord.

Much of the violence documented in the report was directed toward pro-life protesters, such as the March 1989 incident in Oakland where pro-abortionists wearing heavy, steel-toed boots attempted to kill a disabled pro-lifer by kicking him repeatedly in the head, even after knocking him unconscious. That same month, pro-abortionists spat on and shoved pro-lifers in a case where police said they feared for the safety of the pro-lifers. In Fresno, four pro-abortionists attacked pro-life picketers by taking away their signs and using them to beat the pro-lifers at Family Planning Associates Medical Group on March 28, 1981. A Fresno pro-life church was vandalized with red paint and coat hangers as well as posters accusing the church of "crimes against women" in March 1989. On February 26, 1982, pro-abortionists set fire to California Right to Life's Walnut Creek office. Fire officials ruled the incident was arson partly because the arsonist stole the organization's membership list.

Attacking the senses is another popular pro-abortionist assault tactic. At the Alhambra Women's Center in Sacramento, pro-abortionists used a bullhorn to scream directly into the ears of pro-lifers who were singing in November 1994. The volume was so loud that several pro-lifers suffered hearing loss. On July 7, 1994, a man calling himself "condom man" blasted a radio to disrupt sidewalk prayer while a woman dropped condoms at the feet of the Christians. The man then screamed at those praying to go home, because they were not Christians. Other pro-abortionists inflated condoms and bounced them off the heads of pro-lifers. On the same day, police arrested a pro-abortionist for assaulting a pro-lifer at the Sacramento Feminist Women's Health Center.

In Santa Rosa, Glenn Johnson dumped a bucket of urine in a pro-life picketing area November 6, 1993. On July 20 the same year, Charles Minster stamped on the feet of Elizabeth Foster, a sidewalk counselor and hit her with his elbow. In 1989, pro-abortionists in San Rafael shoved pro-lifers and sprayed them with a bottle of urine. In San Jose, pro-lifer Robert Collins was videotaping a female pro-lifer at Planned Parenthood on July 24, 1993 in order to keep pro-abortionists from harming her. The pro-abortionists tried to obscure the camera's view by surrounding the woman and tried to force Collins from the public sidewalk. As Collins wrapped his arms around the pole, the pro-abortionists repeatedly hit his arms to force him to release.

The most perverted example of criminal behavior in the Bay Area doesn't concern protesters, but an abortion doctor, Anthony J. Lund, who lost his medical license in 1984 as a result of his treatment of patients. In one case, he was treating a woman who had recently separated from her husband. Without a nurse present, Lund performed a vaginal examination in which he manipulated the woman's clitoris while asking her to fantasize and move her hips. When she stood up to complain, Lund lifted off her examination gown, leaving her nude. He asked her to walk and move her hips -- a request she refused. He went on to tell her she had a nice body and asked her to lift her leg onto the step of the exam table so her could remove her diaphragm while she was still nude. On July 12, 1977, Lund was treating a recently divorced woman who wanted to be sure she had not contracted any venereal diseases from her promiscuous husband. Again, without a nurse present, Lund fondled the woman's breasts instead of examining them and manipulated her clitoris during the vaginal exam, before inserting his erect penis into her vagina.

The medical board also documents a case of a 15-year old girl who wished to be fitted for a diaphragm in 1982. After the nurse left the room, Lund told the girl he wanted to check the fit of the diaphragm and began to manipulate the girl's clitoris with one hand while rubbing her pubic area with his other.

A Southern California consultant who assisted in compiling the abortion crime report said that the Ortiz bill is based on the assumption that pro-life people are terrorists and the state must maximize the law in order to protect "good abortionists" from violent people. "Of course De Giere's report got tremendous media publicity, but it was absolutely bogus. Everyone took it at face value without even checking the sources. The media's response to our report abortion crimes was zero. And the legislative people? They don't read. We gave it to Ray Haynes, but what's he going to do--pass it out?"

The consultant, who spoke on condition of anonymity, is a Catholic who finds Senator Ortiz' duplicity scandalous. "When she first ran for assembly, she went to Monsignor Kavanaugh at St. Rose's parish in Sacramento. She told him that she was a Catholic who went to school at his parish and asked for his support. Monsignor asked no further questions, but just said, 'sure.' So she brings her camera-man over and they take pictures of her with Kavanaugh, under the arches of the church, with Catholic symbols in the background. That became her primary flyer that went out to Mexican-American voters. As soon as she won, we were furious with Monsignor Kavanaugh for not even asking anybody about her. He should have known that she was a Democrat and in California you can't run as a Democrat unless you make a commitment that you will always be pro-abortion. So she went from assemblywoman to senator in a brief period. So here she is, elected by good Catholics, and leading the charge for the abortion lobby."

Equally frustrating for the consultant is the California Catholic Conference, the political activist wing of the California bishops. "They always remain either neutral or doing something that allows the abortion lobby to prevail. We've never had an aggressive pro-life, pro-moral Catholic Conference. I've been doing this since 1971 and we've had at least four different directors of the conference and each one was the same: Very liberal, going to almost an adulation of the Democrats. They are comrades in arms. If you ask them who their best legislators are in Sacramento, they'll tick off pro-abort Democrats. They honor the pro-aborts. They have Masses for the pro-aborts. It's hopeless there...."

"When I got involved in 1971 we thought this was so awful. We thought that reasonable people will be up in arms as soon as they know what it [abortion] is like and what it really is, we're going to have a massive rebellion in the Catholic Church and the bishops are going to lead the way. I was young and stupid! Now here we are in 2001. Back then, I met with several Catholic bishops, predominantly from the Los Angeles area. I knew there was something wrong with them. When you meet them, at least the ones I met, in private conversations in their chambers, I knew there was something mentally wrong with these guys. You could not have a real conversation with them."

When The San Francisco Examiner's assistant managing editor Jim Mohr questioned by email as to why the report was ignored by his paper, he replied, "Send us the report. We'll take a look at it. However, before you accuse of doing something wrong, the first question should be: Have you seen the report? We have not." The California Right to Life consultant refused to believe that. "Every major daily, including the Examiner, received a copy. Not only was every major daily sent one copy, but they also received a copy directed to their medical writer and another copy was sent to every one of their bureau chiefs in Sacramento. We'll send him another copy. No problem."

Joyce Terhaarm, managing editor of The Sacramento Bee replied, "I am not familiar with the document, so I don't have an answer for you." The Sacramento Bee probably gave more publicity and credence to De Giere's report than any other California paper. Another copy was subsequently sent to her. Phone calls and emails to The San Francisco Chronicle were not returned.

A copy of The Abortion Crime Report can be obtained by writing California Right to Life Inc., 1610 Oak Park Blvd., Pleasant Hill, California, 94523. Or call Camille Giglio at (925) 944-5351.

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