The Patriot Post® · A Dirty Double Standard
The facts of the case don’t seem to be in dispute, but the criminal justice system’s response to those facts certainly is.
On July 22, according to a Metropolitan Police Department incident report, two people assaulted Terrisa Bukovinac and Mike Gribbin outside the Planned Parenthood Carol Whitehill Moses Center on 4th Street Northeast, just 10 minutes from Capitol Hill. A heated exchange took place, then one of the assailants slammed Gribbin to the ground and punched him several times.
Gribbin’s “crime”? He’s a pro-life activist.
He and his fellow pro-lifers were doing what they normally do on behalf of the unborn: praying outside an abortion mill and offering sidewalk counseling to those approaching. That counseling is a standard practice, an attempt to let pregnant women know that they really do have a choice — that they have alternatives to abortion.
Apparently, it was too much for those pro-abortion thugs. Here’s the footage of the incident, which Bukovinac posted to Twitter.
🚨Two proaborts decided to assault me and another pro-life defender outside Planned Parenthood in Washington DC this morning simply for standing on the sidewalk offering resources to families in crisis
— Terrisa Bukovinac (@Terrisalin) July 22, 2023
The police refused to press charges @PAAUNOW pic.twitter.com/CEUzH4az5Y
What would seem like a clear-cut case of assault, though, doesn’t seem to be getting the attention it deserves from law enforcement. Police say they’re still investigating the incident, but are they really? After all, how hard can it be to piece together the facts of an attack that took place in broad daylight in front of what we can only assume were multiple eyewitnesses?
In any case, as The Daily Signal reports, “A closer look at the manner in which D.C. authorities handle attacks on pro-lifers raises questions about the lack of consequences for the attackers — and how safe it is for those engaged in pro-life work in the nation’s capital.”
Strange, though, because we don’t seem to remember such reluctance to enforce the law when the alleged assailant is on the other side.
We’re speaking of Michael Houck, the pro-life activist who recently beat a bogus rap for assault in front of a similar abortion mill in nearby Philadelphia — but not before having been put through hell.
Houck is a husband and father of seven, and cofounder and president of a Catholic ministry that aims to spiritually mentor young men. He’s also a well-known pro-life author and sidewalk counselor, like Gribbin and Bukovinac, and he’s thus committed to doing God’s work by driving two hours a day to pray and speak outside of abortion clinics in downtown Philly for as much as six to eight hours at a time. In this case, he had his 12-year-old son with him, whom he was trying to protect from a particularly foul-mouthed and aggressive abortion activist.
Houck shoved the guy away from his son, which caused the man to stumble and fall. And that caused 20 or so armed FBI agents to show up one morning and raid Houck’s home and terrorize his family.
So. Where’s the heavily armed raid of the homes of these two pro-abortion assailants from July 22? Why aren’t they being afforded the same treatment Houck got? The question answers itself.
The news from the frontlines isn’t all bad, though. As we reported yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia unanimously upheld a lower-court ruling that the 2020 arrest of pro-life protesters for writing a chalk message on the street during George Floyd protests was a violation of their First Amendment rights to free speech.
What message did those student protesters write? “Black Pre-Born Lives Matter.”
Apparently, such a radical message was too much for the abortion industry to take. But pro-life activists can take satisfaction in knowing that when they attract such enmity from the abortionists, it means they’re right over the target.
As pro-life activist Michael New told The Daily Signal: “Despite the hostility we face, physical attacks on sidewalk counselors and prayer warriors are rare. Furthermore, while there are many great pro-life ministries, there is no better way to build a culture of life than being a prayerful presence wherever abortions take place.”
Now if we can only get equal treatment under the law.