Joe Scheidler speaks at July 29 protest at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango, CO [Photo by Dan Anguis]
Durango, Colorado is a quaint, bustling little town set in one of the most breathtakingly beautiful spots in the U.S., totally surrounded by pine-covered mountains. And that’s where I was honored to spend last Thursday and Friday at the invitation of Daniel Anguis, president of LifeGuard, and Keith Mason, a well known pro-life activist from Denver.
They encouraged 100 fearless pro-lifers to join their protest in front of the hospital where notorious abortionist Richard Grossman is on staff. Also on board as speakers were Fr. Joseph Fessio of Ignatius Press and Walter Hoye, who has spent time in jail in California for his pro-life activities.
We were all invited there to encourage the “Catholic” hospital, Mercy Regional, run by the Sisters of Mercy, to drop Grossman from their staff.
Grossman is not only an abortionist for Planned Parenthood, but is a rabid anti-Catholic who writes a scurrilous column [PDF] for the local newspaper, in which he mocks Catholic sexual morality, and says he does abortions “because I’m a Christian.” He believes there are too many people on earth, and it is his Christian duty to get rid of some of them.
Also speaking at the protest were a number of local pro-lifers who have kept this battle going since they learned there was an abortionist on staff. Grossman has kept this attachment to the hospital quiet for a number of years. In my talk I stressed that the administration should feel guilty for having an active abortionist on staff, and that it was grave disservice to its patients to allow on its staff a man who delivers a live baby one day and kills one the next day.
The Danger of Scandal
I also pointed out the Catholic Bishops’ statement that states, “Catholic health care institutions need to be concerned about the danger of scandal in any association with abortion providers.” Fr. Fessio concentrated on the scandal aspect of the situation.
A press conference brought a newsman whose report in the Durango Herald was the usual pro-abortion pap we have become used to. But the story did make page one with a color picture of and six columns.
During the picket I was able to ride around the hospital in a truck with the graphic signs facing the building for Grossman and all to see. At the end of our first round a guard ordered us off the hospital’s private road.
During dinner following the protest I met an official tour guide who spent four hours showing me the sites around Durango, including half a dozen mountain peaks. The hospital administration says it is complying with Church law, and the bishop has so far done little to help settle this debate.
So the only hope is a boycott until the hospital loses enough business that they ask Grossman to quit. This could happen. Let’s pray that it does.
