Gun-waving abortionist Gary Boyle [Photo Credit: Charleston Post Courier]
Pro-lifers at the 40 Days for Life vigil in West Ashley, South Carolina were shocked when abortionist Gary Boyle threatened them with a gun on Saturday, October 2.
The vigil had been running in the Charleston suburb for 11 days without incident until Boyle arrived at Women’s Medical Center in his Lexus. When pro-lifers attempted to talk to Boyle, he waved a black handgun loaded with 15 bullets at the vigil participants, including a 17 year old boy. Boyle then exited the vehicle and entered the clinic without further incident.
Local pro-lifer John Karafa immediately called 911, according to a report in the Charleston Post and Courier. “We were like, ‘Well, that was a gun,’ ” Karafa said. “You can’t do that.”
Boyle was arrested on charges of pointing a firearm and bond was set at $25,000, which he paid later the same day. No information was yet available on when he will be tried.
The Number One Myth About Abortion Violence
This story once again puts the lie to one of the biggest myths in the entire abortion debate: that pro-lifers are violent. The comments on the Post and Courier article make it clear that this myth is pervasive. More than a few commenters voiced the opinion that the doctor had every right to threaten pro-lifers with a gun since, in their opinion, pro-lifers are all nutjobs who might kill someone at any moment.
Commenter “retired sc l.e.o.” wrote:
I don’t see where Dr. Boyle did anything wrong. Everyone knows that medical professionals in the past have been killed by fanatics at these protest.
But that’s not what the law says. South Carolina law says it is illegal to point a firearm at anyone—loaded or unloaded. The law is very clear on this because it is an incredibly serious offense to threaten someone with deadly force. The commenter seems to think that because a small handful of people have killed abortionists in the past, the threat of deadly force against any pro-lifer is justified. But that’s not what the law says, and the facts don’t bear it out.
On the whole, pro-lifers are peaceful and prayerful. In fact, the pro-life movement, with the protection of human life as its driving motivation, is probably one of the most peaceful protest movements in existence. Here at our local Planned Parenthood in Aurora, Illinois, there have been many arrests for violence, assault and similar offenses, but not one of the people arrested for violence has been pro-life.
It’s perhaps most shocking to me that in a story about a doctor threatening pro-lifers with a gun, people have the audacity to blame the pro-lifers. It’s almost as if they didn’t even read the story but saw the words “pro-life” and “gun” in the same sentence and drew the conclusion that the pro-lifers were in the wrong.
Death Threats in Newspaper Comments
But that’s not the worst of it. Several comments on the story actually advocated murdering pro-lifers! For example:
mogley98 wrote:
As for the protesters, bottom line they are all nuts. You could go to any protest and arrest or just kill them all and you would have lost nothing.barrett wrote:
The real crime was that he had fifteen chances to take out some nut jobs and blew it.
Even more shocking, when these comments were flagged as abusive and at the time of this writing, days after the comments were flagged, they have not been taken down.
What’s truly shocking is that these people are simultaneously accusing pro-lifers of being violent while calling for their murder and justifying the abortionist’s threat of deadly force. That they can’t see the irony of the violence in their own heart as they accuse others of the same puts one in mind of Our Lord’s words about taking the plank out of your own eye before picking at the mote in your brother’s.
You Meant Evil Against Me, but God Meant it for Good
As with the story of Joseph and his brothers in the book of Genesis, God is using even this act of violence for His purposes. An abortionist is being brought to some manner of justice for his crimes and more attention is being drawn to an excellent pro-life work. Doubtless more pro-lifers will be joining the effort as a result of the coverage. And, four babies have been saved so far by the peaceful pro-life witness at the clinic.
I’ll be keeping tabs on this story as it goes to court and will report back as events warrant. In the mean time, I’d encourage everyone to post comments of support for South Carolina pro-lifers in the comments section of the story on the Post and Courier’s website.
