Anti-Israel activists at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago targeted a pro-life pregnancy center that provides housing and other free services to women by cementing the doors shut to prevent staff from serving pregnant clients.
Aid for Women operates multiple centers and two maternity homes in the Chicago area. The nonprofit offers a wide range of services, including free ultrasounds, pregnancy consultations, and parenting classes to pregnant women in need.
Mary FioRito, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and an Aid for Women board member, shared photos of the damage in a Friday post on X.
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The activists vandalized one of the nonprofit’s offices on Thursday evening after the closing of the DNC. Vandals wrote “Fake clinic” and “The real dead babies are in Gaza” on the front entrance, and put cement in the locks to stop clients and staff from entering the building.
“If you think you are somehow hurting those responsible for the overturn of Roe v. Wade, you’re wrong,” FioRito said in a statement to The Christian Post directed at the vandals.
“You are hurting pregnant women, many of whom are struggling with difficult circumstances, by cutting them off (even temporarily) from the services they were freely seeking out,” she continued. “You cut them off from the free diapers and baby wipes they might have needed for the weekend. From food and clothing. That’s what you did.”
Gina Marie, a former Aid for Women client who spoke with CP in September 2022, credited the nonprofit with saving her life. Marie had been homeless and struggling with addiction when she discovered she was pregnant, and she sought help from the organization. Aid for Women provided her with housing at one of its maternity homes and helped her find employment by driving her to and from job interviews.
Marie told CP about a time she felt the need to refute a blog post that referred to pregnancy centers as “fake,” remembering all that Aid for Women had done for her. Critics of pregnancy centers often accuse them of masquerading as medical centers and using deceptive practices to trick pregnant women into visiting them.
“I was like, ‘Anyone and everyone who thinks that pregnancy centers are not real, they are very real,” Marie recalled writing once on Facebook. “My children and I would not be here today; we literally would not be here today. I would either be dead or in prison if it wasn’t for Aid for Women.’”
As The Daily Signal reported Friday, one of Aid for Women’s security cameras caught four vandals defacing the office at around 3 a.m. At the time of the report, Aid for Women had temporarily stopped seeing clients because the staff could not enter.
In a statement to the outlet, FioRito said that Aid for Women had contacted the FBI and reported the vandalism as a possible FACE Act violation. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act prohibits the use of force, obstruction, or property damage intended to interfere with the services of a facility providing “reproductive health services.”
While the FACE Act subjects anyone who engages in this type of conduct at an abortion facility to federal charges, the law also applies to churches and pro-life pregnancy centers. The Department of Justice under the Biden administration has faced criticism from some pro-lifers who contend that the DOJ has largely used the law to prosecute pro-life activists instead of pregnancy center vandals.
Following the leaked draft of the Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization and the subsequent overturning of Roe v. Wade, pro-choice activists engaged in a wave of violence and vandalism against pro-life pregnancy centers. The activists firebombed pro-life clinics and spray-painted the exterior of several buildings.
The recent attack on a pro-life pregnancy center comes after Planned Parenthood parked a mobile van near the DNC to offer free abortion pills and vasectomies. Pro-life groups, including Democrats for Life, responded to the corporation’s mobile van initiative by holding a diaper drive that raised over $6,000.
40 Days for Life, a pro-life group that organizes prayer vigils at abortion facilities throughout the country, filed an Internal Revenue Service complaint last week against Planned Parenthood. The pro-life organization argued that Planned Parenthood engaged in partisan political activity by offering free abortion drugs, emergency contraception and vasectomies at the DNC.
“Planned Parenthood’s mobile clinic(s)’ presence and provision of free services juxtapose its/their tax-exempt privilege against a politically charged environment,” the letter explained. “They are clear indicators of political endorsement or opposition of particular candidates and parties.”
The letter requested that the IRS review whether Planned Parenthood engaged in conduct that could result in the revocation of its tax-exempt status.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
