I have protested abortion more than a few times and represented protestors in state and federal courts. I have stood in the docket myself for numerous acts of protest and represented protestors who were up on criminal charges, who were being sued and who were doing the suing. I have argued protestor cases before judges, before juries and before appellate courts. I have argued protestor cases in more states than I can remember without my files, but they at least include Oregon, Arizona, Montana, Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Georgia, Florida, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, New York, Pennsylvania, and Puerto Rico. I have argued protestor cases before the Second, Third, Fifth, Eighth, Ninth and Eleventh Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal.

I might be considered somewhat of an expert on protesting.

One of the reasons that I walked away from representing protestors to take up the Consumer Protection crusade in 2003 was the caliber of the protestors I was dealing with. While many were principled, too few seemed to be doing anything other than offending people with six foot dead baby signs.

This needs to be put into some historical context. (Click here for the Fort’s history in a nutshell.)

The “pro-life movement” was born in the aftermath of Roe v. Wade. First as a religious expression of dissent mostly among the Catholic bishops. Then, as abortion clinics came out of the back alleys to hang their neon signs on sidestreets like Webster, pro-lifers were attracted to them like bugs to light.

Some of the best of those bugs were actually pro-life nurses. I am willing to be corrected, but I think that Fort Wayne was one of the first places where such nurses were sued for protesting. Thanks to Phyllis Morken, the late Phyllis Avila and Concordia Lutheran Seminary.

All these “bugs drawn to the light” did to get sued was stand on the sidewalks adjacent to abortion clinics, in their white uniforms, offering abortion bound woman a choice. “Choose Life” they softly offered. And for that they were sued $750,000 by the so-called “pro-choice” champions.

Note that they had a communicative reason (to abortion bound women) to be at the clinic.

As the 80’s droned on the “pro-choicers” became more aggressive on overruling the “choose life” option. They crowded around the abortion bound women as “clinic escorts,” singing loudly to drown out the “choose life” message of the nurses and those that had taken their place. The escorts even began getting a little rough with the sidewalk-stationed “pro-life counselors.”

The abortion industry had, through its useful idiots, upped the ante. The pro-lifers answered in kind, kinda. We began gathering at the clinics en masse to support the sidewalk counselors. It was a show of force, a show of Christian resolve, unified Christian resolve, to stand opposed to the abortion clinics that were proliferating across America.

More escorts showed up. As our masses grew theirs became more desperate. Sidewalk counseling became impossible as rings of escorts rushed abortion bound women toward the doors of fate covered under blankets with music blaring.

Then, in the late 80’s, a tipping point was reached. Some pro-lifers began to stand in the doorways and block access. The cry went out – if abortion was really murder, act like it! What would you do if they were killing one year olds? What is the difference between one year olds (conception plus 21 months) and one month olds (conception plus one month)., The logic seemed inescapable. The Rescue Movement was born out of pro-life angst and collective guilt.

One of the byproducts of the Rescue Movement was a tri-fold division of labor at the clinics. We had the “rescuers” who would block doors, the “counselors” who would approach the clinic bound women and the “pray warriors” who supported the other two by corporate worship onsite.

As a manager of such events it was always the latter group that seemed the least Biblical. The sidewalk counselors had a message to share. The rescuers were engaged in civil disobedience in pursuit of the doctrine of interposition. But the Prayer Warriors were, in my mind, possibly unbiblical.

Here is why …

“Be careful not to do your ‘acts of righteousness’ before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven…

“And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.  But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Well lawsuits, aggressive arrests and Congressional action (The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, FACE) pretty well shut down the rescues cold. Threats of the aforementioned and the ravishes of time has worn down the sidewalk counselors. But the prayer warriors have now recently reemerged, only without rescuers or counselors to support. They have now become an end in themselves. And the above verses yet give me pause.

I simply do not comprehend, given the ground rules, a communicative reason (other than public prayer) to be at the clinic. If it is merely to pray in public in close proximity to sinners, then I fear that the above red may apply in full.

Especially when said prayer gatherings attempt to supplant liturgical seasons from the ancient past, such as Lent.

Another recent strain in the protest movement that gives me pause is the advent of the six foot dead baby posters. (And now even truck mounted 10 foot dead baby posters.)  They were not prevalent back in the day of my protest activity. They seemed to spring up once FACE shut down rescues. They strike me as a desperate (and even crass) attempt to create social tension. I have never been comfortable with their use in the general public and have often worried that they simply serve to further coarsen an already too-coarse culture. Think about it … if you were murdered would you want your lifeless body displayed on six foot panels for five year olds to view?  If your wife was torn assunder would you march about showing her most tortured moment?

I turned down as many cases involving these giant posters as I took on when I worked for the AFA Center for Law and Policy. Too many of the protestors acknowledged, even boasted in, their sign’s ability to enrage viewers, and then inexplicably used the same in school zones, along busy highways and in places where families gathered.  It seemed to be all about the impact, and to be, at times, done with a vindictive spirit.

I often asked the sign wielding protestors how they would feel if someone who viewed their signs became visibly shaken or enraged and drove their car into innocent persons. Most of the zealots replied that they would not feel responsible. I wanted to represent only those who clearly understood their responsibility to be responsible protestors.

Finding few, I traded in my constitutional law perch for a position in the civil service. Being pro-life must mean more than holding giant pictures of decapitated babies and praying in public for others to repent of their sins.

How does one best protest the Culture of Death responsibly? How does one protest the Culture of Death with the greatest impact? How does one protest the Culture of Death most biblically?

These are fine questions. As my final bequeathing to the Movement that I actively served these past twenty years I will end this swan song series answering these fine and pressing questions.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 13th, 2009 at 1:05 am and is filed under Gabriel, Refuse, Resist and/or Rebel, Swansong. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.