“We’re winning.”
These two simple words from Troy Newman, director of Wichita, Kansas based Operation Rescue and longtime friend of Joe Scheidler, appear at the beginning of a great article about the powerful impact of grassroots pro-life activism on page one of Tuesday’s Chicago Tribune.
Pro-Life Activism Highlighted in Chicago Tribune
After noting that Operation Rescue has just moved into its new office—which formerly housed a closed abortion facility—the article notes that the number of abortion clinics nationwide has declined dramatically since the early 1990s, from around 2,000 to some 700 today.
Credit for this drop goes to stalwart activists like Troy Newman, who encapsulated what every pro-life activist instinctively knows—that sitting around and waiting for a solution to abortion to come from the federal government is pointless.
Instead, Newman said, “All politics is local. I asked myself, ‘What can I do?’ I can save this baby and close this abortion clinic.”
Troy’s remarks indicate ever so clearly why it’s necessary that we train and equip pro-life activist leaders in every city across the country.
Pro-Aborts Bemoan Hospital Mergers
The article goes on to note that the number of doctors willing to perform abortions is also plummeting.
It also points out according to pro-aborts, a spate of hospital consolidations is partly to blame for the decline in abortion providers. The culprit? Why, “religious hospitals”, of course.
Pro-Lifers Keep Tiller Under Pressure
The article then goes on to describe at length the steps Newman and Operation Rescue have taken against notorious late-term abortionist George Tiller:
Kansas is one of the few states that allow citizens to impanel their own grand juries. One has been investigating the activities of George Tiller, the Wichita physician who runs what probably is now the most famous clinic in the United States. … More than half of the abortions performed in Kansas have been for women who don’t live there, recent statistics released by the state show.
The citizen grand jury, which was convened after the local prosecutor declined to file felony charges against Tiller for violating state abortion regulations, has sought the records of some 2,000 patients of Tiller. Last month the state Supreme Court ruled that Tiller had to turn the records over, but with the patient names redacted.
Tiller’s lawyer, Lee Thompson, said the case demonstrates how the aggressive anti-abortion forces can effectively blunt the protections of Roe by driving out providers.
Although I don’t suppose he realizes it, Tiller’s lawyer is essentially acknowledging the powerful impact of grassroots pro-life activism.
Indeed, the article then quotes Laura Shaneyfelt, another Tiller lawyer, “who said the threat to abortion rights in Kansas and elsewhere is very real, regardless of what happens with Roe.”
