Pro-life ads have been vandalized with spray paint again in South Bend, Indiana, mirroring graffiti attacks on similar ads in the area which occurred last fall.
The first incident occurred in September 2019, shortly after over 2,200 aborted fetal remains were discovered in the home of local abortionist Ulrich Klopfer. In response, The St. Joseph County Right to Life held a press conference to share healing resources for Klopfer’s patients. After the press conference, pro-life advertisements were targeted and defaced.
Four benches pointing women towards the pro-life Women’s Care Center (WCC) and the Abortion Pill Reversal were spray painted. After the St. Joseph County Right to Life responded by raising funds for ads promoting post-abortion services, six of their bench ads were then spray painted.
Melanie Garcia is the outreach manager for the group and she could not help but note the irony in the vandals’ handiwork. Garcia noted the eyes of one of the ad’s women had been spray-painted black, which she likened to “covering women’s eyes from their options.”
Reports have been filed with the local police, but the culprit has yet to be caught. Pro-choice groups in the community have been silent about the incidents, which could be indicative of the tension between the pro-life and pro-choice groups in South Bend.
Last summer, a federal judge allowed Whole Woman’s Health (WWH), a Texas abortion business, to continue operating an unlicensed abortion clinic in South Bend. The Women’s Care Center (WCC) was nearly prevented from opening nearby WWH by abortion lobbyists working with then-Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who is currently running for President of the United States as a Democrat. A local businessman purchased a zoned location for the center across the street from the clinic for the WCC so they could open.
The St. Joseph County Right to Life plans to continue directing women to life-affirming resources, once again raising funds to purchase more ad space to replace the defaced property.
Melanie Garcia says the South Bend pro-life movement will remain strong, no matter what:
Nothing that the abortion movement does is going to stop us … If they try to vandalize our benches, we’ll just put up another location. Nothing’s going to stop us from being out there and promoting resources to women who are in need.
