A call from Refuse & Resist!
3-26-99
Only a week after the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian in his home last October, anti-abortion leaders called for a reunion of the 1992 "Spring of Life," when 1000 anti-abortion protesters spent 2 weeks targeting women's clinics and doctor's offices in Buffalo. Calling Buffalo "the flash point in the abortion war," Operation Rescue Director Flip Benham said, "When we brought the Gospel of Christ to the streets of this city during the 'Spring of Life' campaign in April 1992, there were six abortion mills (sic)... Today there are only two... in operation in Buffalo and we pray, by year's end, both [clinics] will be history."
In the wake of the cold-blooded murder of Dr. Slepian, this can hardly be interpreted as anything but a threat. Benham was joined in Buffalo in January to issue this call by other major players from 1992, including Joseph Scheidler of Chicago's "Pro-Life" Action League and the author of Closed: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion, and "Father" Norman Weslin, leader of the Lambs of Christ. The Lambs of Christ are a militant anti-abortion group who have blockaded and invaded clinics across the country for years. Weslin staged a blockade of Planned Parenthood in Rochester in 1996 and spent time in jail for his efforts. All 3 of these men have been organizationally connected to James Charles Kopp, now being sought as a "material witness" in Dr. Slepians' murder, and have personally given moral justification to the harassment, threats, and murder of abortion providers.
How Dare They Come To Buffalo!!
Their plan is to protest against abortion at women's clinics and doctor's homes in Buffalo, Batavia, and Rochester, against so-called "child pornography" at Barnes & Noble bookstores, and visit local high schools with their notorious 4'x6' "bloody fetus" photographs. They also plan to protest at the SUNY Buffalo campus, which Bob Behn of Last Call Ministries in Buffalo calls, "the seat of secular humanism in America."
In 1992 the whole pro-choice community from Buffalo (joined by activists from all over the country) turned out to keep the clinics open and defeat Operation Rescue's anti-women program. Since then, anti-abortion protestors have murdered 7 abortion providers, and have seriously injured many more; abortion clinics have been burned and bombed. In 1999 any mobilizations against women's freedom must be met with determined opposition. At the clinics, pro-choice sentiment must be expressed. Those who provide abortion are heroes for their courage and commitment to saving women's lives. It's up to us to support them and to expose and oppose the anti-abortionists. We cannot allow Operation Rescue to go anywhere in public without being opposed by a pro-choice message of support for women's right to choose abortion.
Refuse & Resist! calls on you to join us in Buffalo for the weekend or the whole week! We encourage everyone to attend Buffalo United for Choice '99 coalition's pro-choice rally on Saturday April 17. Contact them at 716-857-2001.
Contact Refuse & Resist! for more information:
305 Madison Ave., Suite 1166
New York, NY, 10165.
212-713-5657
info@refuseandresist.org
This flyer is available in PDF format
[posted Tue, Mar 30, 1999]
Reproductive Freedom Index | R&R Main Page
Join Refuse
& Resist!
305 Madison Ave., Suite 1166, New York, NY 10165
Phone: 212-713-5657
email: info@refuseandresist.org