Wichita proLife office vandalled in wake of Tiller murder

Todays is : Friday, 19 March 2010

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Wichita proLife office vandalled in wake of Tiller murder

Operation Rescue, one of the leading pro-life groups in the US, says its national headquarters in Wichita, Kansas, was attacked on Friday, June 26 by an unidentified suspect who remains at large.

The Wichita-based group says a man who was riding a bicycle attempted to disable the office’s security system. A police report was filed with the Wichita Police Department.
Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue, was among four people who were working at the office at the time. He reports hearing noise outside the office in the afternoon and through security cameras saw the suspect attempting to climb onto the roof.

"In light of the recent events, the targeting of our security system is troubling," Newman said in a statement.

Newman says as he confronted the man outside, the suspect tried to attack, throwing his bicycle at Newman and then left the scene, taking one security camera with him.

Soon following Tiller’s death, leading pro-abortion organizations blamed pro-life advocates for George Tiller's murder. This has caused some pro-life groups to fear retaliation. Although the accused killer, Scott Roeder, has no apparent affiliations with pro-life groups, he was an ardent anti-abortionist and anti-government activist.

Eleanor Smeal, the head of the Feminist Majority Foundation, said Tiller was a "hero for women's rights" who "faced many legal challenges by anti-abortion extremists."

Accusing pro-life advocates of killing Tiller, she said he "was murdered in his church by such an extremist.”

Operation Rescue released audio recordings and e-mails it received containing death threats, one of which says it's "time to start killing Bible-thumping morons." The group says he recently asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the threats.

Newman, however, believes the federal and local police officials are less responsive to their appeals than that of abortion providers.

"We can't help but think that if this attack happened to an abortion clinic, there would be federal marshals patrolling and investigating," he said. "The police seemed apathetic. It's almost as if pro-lifers are second-class citizens."

No one was injured in the incident. Finding pliers on the suspect’s bike causes Operation Rescue to believe it was a premeditated act and not simply a random act.

"We are just thankful that no one was injured and that the attacker was interrupted before he could do more damage,” said Newman. |”We will be increasing our security precautions as a result of this incident. We have a very dedicated staff, and no amount of intimidation will deter us from our work."

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