<mediadc-video-embed data-state="{"cms.site.owner":{"_ref":"00000161-3486-d333-a9e9-76c6fbf30000","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b93390000"},"cms.content.publishDate":1659963868303,"cms.content.publishUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07b6-de22-a173-2ffe05de0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"cms.content.updateDate":1659963868303,"cms.content.updateUser":{"_ref":"00000162-07b6-de22-a173-2ffe05de0001","_type":"00000161-3461-dd66-ab67-fd6b933a0007"},"rawHtml":"
var _bp = _bp||[]; _bp.push({ "div": "Brid_59729671", "obj": {"id":"27789","width":"16","height":"9","video":"1069857"} }); ","_id":"00000182-7d8e-dd2e-a7df-fdbe57ae0000","_type":"2f5a8339-a89a-3738-9cd2-3ddf0c8da574"}”>Video EmbedThis summer, Vice President Kamala Harris announced a new task force to address online harassment and threats. Harris and other abortion supporters have called for protecting women especially from threats and intimidation. The Pro-Life Generation’s question for Harris: Do these protections include pro-life women?
Following the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson, which overturned Roe v. Wade, abortion supporters have unleashed unprecedented attacks on pro-lifers, both in person and online. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) called attention to the escalation in an interview on Fox. Jordan noted that 50 crisis pregnancy centers and churches were attacked or vandalized in the span of 10 weeks.
“This is all an effort to intimidate,” said Jordan. “I don’t think it’s going to work because the American people get it. They appreciate what the Supreme Court did in respecting the Constitution and the sanctity of life.”
In our experience, people who publicly advocate pro-life policies should expect to face such attempted intimidation, as it has become pervasive at the national and local level.
As a person who handles these issues for a national organization and who has spent extensive time outside of the Supreme Court in prayer and protest, I’ve seen the extremism close-up. Students for Life of America regularly receives threats online, via email, and in person when students and staffers attend peaceful demonstrations. SFLA has reported on some of the most egregious assaults and threats received from abortion activists, including a compiled list of incidents in recent months.
However, these stories are by no means exhaustive. Also on the front lines, SFLA Project Manager Autumn Schimmer and Social Media Coordinator Lauren Marlowe note that they receive threats daily. Whether through the organization’s email or through direct messages on social media, SFLA staffers receive personalized hate mail with graphic threats of violence.
“Since the reversal of Roe v. Wade, the intensity of threats we’ve received online have significantly increased,” Schimmer notes. “Many of the threats are aimed directly at our president, Kristan Hawkins.” Some threats are credible enough that they have reported them to the appropriate authorities and increased security and video surveillance at the team’s Virginia office.
Marlowe says she has become accustomed to hearing and seeing shocking and sickening threats, including, “I hope you get raped so you can practice what you preach,” and, “If I ever see you pregnant, I’m going to shove you down a flight of stairs.”
As Schimmer and Marlowe have both witnessed, these threats are not confined to online harassment. In September 2020, while demonstrating outside the Supreme Court in favor of Justice Amy Coney Barrett, Schimmer was assaulted by a pro-abortion woman. Since that incident, she has not attended an in-person rally. Just last month, Marlowe was threatened by an unhinged abortion supporter. In that incident, the group had more robust security in place, and no one was harmed.
When asked for advice for fellow pro-lifers, both Schimmer and Marlowe emphasized going to rallies and demonstrations with a group. Going alone or into an area with which you are not familiar can put you in danger. We know that abortion activists are agitated, making threats, and increasingly acting on those violent threats. While we cannot allow their intimidation to silence pro-lifers, we also need to take safety and security measures seriously.
Marlowe noted the importance of filming interactions with potentially violent abortion supporters. Having video evidence of what transpired can be very important if police are called or if there is a legal dispute in the future.
Many of the women threatening and assaulting pro-lifers claim to be motivated by “feminism.” Marlowe pointed out the contradiction. “They call themselves pro-woman yet waste no time when it comes to attacking women who don’t bow to their agenda,” she said. “If you attack women because they don’t support abortion, you are clearly pro-abortion, not pro-woman.”
If Kamala Harris is serious about protecting women from intimidation and harassment online, she should start by protecting peaceful pro-life women who are courageously defending the next generation of women. Now that would be a feminist thing to do.
Tina Whittington is executive vice president of Students for Life of America & Students for Life Action, which comprises more than 1,300 groups on middle and high school, college, and medical and law school campuses in all 50 states.
