Latest Forced-Birther Tactic Isn’t Just Ugly–It’s Illegal (VIDEO)



Opponents of legalized abortion like to say they’re pro-life. But in recent years, they have adopted a number of increasingly aggressive tactics that suggest the term “pro-life” is a misnomer. It’s more accurate to call them “forced-birth.”

The strongest evidence to date that these people are more about forced-birth came on Friday, when activists descended on at least three and possibly four clinics across the country and stormed into the waiting rooms to talk women out of having abortions. They didn’t let up even when the women didn’t want to listen or when staffers warned them they were trespassing. This tactic is known as a “red rose rescue,” after the roses the forced-birthers try to offer the patients.

Coming on the heels of the gauntlet of abuse many women have to endure before entering an abortion clinic, this can only be described as ugly and nakedly aggressive. But according to the top legal expert at Rewire–formerly RH Reality Check–you can add something else to the list. It’s blatantly illegal.

When Jessica Mason Pieklo, Rewire’s vice president for law and the courts, saw footage of the “red rose rescues,” she concluded that they “clearly violate” the Federal Access to Clinic Entrances Act–better known as the FACE Act. That law, codified as section 248 of the federal criminal code, was passed in 1994 in response to a spree of violent acts at abortion clinics, culminating in Shelley Shannon’s attempted murder of George Tiller in 1993 and David Gunn’s murder by Paul Griffin later in 1993.

Pieklo, a veteran lawyer and an expert on reproductive rights, believes that entering clinic waiting rooms in this way amounts to “physical obstruction to prevent people from obtaining or providing reproductive health-care services”–a tactic that is explicitly prohibited under the FACE Act. As Pieklo sees it, the “red rose rescues” are very similar to the kinds of stunts forced-birthers pulled before rabid forced-birther Paul Hill murdered Pensacola abortion provider James Britton in 1994, just two months after the FACE Act was signed into law.


The obvious question–since the “red rose rescues” are clearly illegal, will anything be done about them? Pieklo wonders if Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ Justice Department is willing to do so. If a federal prosecutor grows a set and decides to bring charges, exhibit A would be a statement made by Monica Milgorino Miller, one of the leaders of an attempted “red rose rescue” in Sterling Heights, Michigan. Watch here.

Miller, the executive director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, openly declares that if the women refuse the “encouragement and help” she and her friends offer, they intended to remain in the waiting room “in solidarity with the helpless victims, those oppressed by legalized abortion.” She also said that they continued to “have conversations with the women” even when police arrived.

Miller couldn’t have made it more clear. This is harassment. In a normal administration with a normal Justice Department, there would be no question that this would be grounds for criminal charges. But then again, we’re not dealing with a normal administration.

There may be a way forward, though. It turns out that the FACE Act has a civil component that allows clinics to sue for $5,000 per violation. Hopefully at least one clinic has the guts to sue Miller and her friends. At least one other abortion provider could make use of this provision–A Preferred Woman’s Health Clinic in my hometown of Charlotte. That clinic has been the target of some particularly unnerving protests in recent months, including protesters blocking and stopping cars and directing them away from the clinic.


Whether it’s via a criminal case or a civil suit, one thing is clear. These people don’t care one thing about the sanctity of life. They want to destroy privacy through the back door. There’s no other way to describe people who think barging into a medical clinic waiting room is acceptable. It’s time that these people get reined in and quickly before someone gets hurt, or worse.

(featured image courtesy Created Equal’s Facebook)

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.