King County, Washington — where the county council just passed an ordinance almost unanimously to devote $1 million in emergency funding to assist women seeking abortions from outside the Evergreen State — has recently seen a surge of attacks on pro-life pregnancy resource clinics and churches.
Care Net of Puget Sound Pregnancy Clinic in Kenmore, Wash., was one of the latest pro-life organizations to be targeted. The attack, which fell on Independence Day, as Americans gathered to celebrate the birth of the nation, was particularly heinous as the perpetrator(s) burned an American flag on the clinic property.
“We’ve been aware that there’s the possibility of our pregnancy centers being attacked,” Amelia Graham, an employee of Care Net of Puget Sound Pregnancy Clinic, told news outlet MyNorthwest. “And so, early Monday morning, someone did come and they threw a rock through our window at our location. They placed and burned an American flag on our property.”
The criminals then graffitied messages across the clinic buildings: “If abortion isn’t safe, you aren’t either!” Similar messaging has been used repeatedly by the violent pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge, which has claimed responsibility for a number of attacks in the wake of the May leaked Supreme Court opinion hinting at the overruling of Roe v. Wade. The group’s involvement in this particular incident remains unclear, as it is still under investigation by the Kenmore Police Department.
“The police have been incredibly helpful, we have nothing but good things to say about them,” Graham said. “We are working with the police in response to this vandalism that we experienced. And we are also very grateful that we do have federal protection as a reproductive health organization.”
The New American spoke to Kenmore Police, who said they were called on July 5 and alerted of the incident. No arrests have been made.
The assault comes after the Department of Homeland Security issued warnings in May of attacks to churches following threats by Jane’s Revenge of a “night of rage” should the ruling from the high court be unfavorable to the pro-abortion agenda. Over the past month, however, these incidences have received a slow response from federal agencies.
In late June, a handful of congressional Republicans sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and FBI Director Christopher Wray demanding that they “officially classify those committing crimes through Jane’s Revenge as domestic terrorists.”
“We will be monitoring their response closely to be sure it is more than mere words without follow-through,” said CatholicVote President Brian Burch, who, according to the Washington Times penned a letter from conservative and religious leaders to Attorney General Merrick Garland and was “pleased to learn that law enforcement is finally responding to the widespread attacks on pro-life Americans.”
“We expect the Bureau to treat these threats and violence like they would any other attack on innocent Americans. Unlike the concerned parents who were investigated by the Bureau last year, these are real domestic terrorists,” said Burch.
As of this writing, the FBI has not publicized any information related to investigations into attacks on the dozens of pro-life organizations and churches damaged by pro-abortion extremists in the wake of the epic SCOTUS decision.
The “Fake Clinics” Lie
Despite being a certified healthcare facility, Care Net of Puget Sound has been marked by radical activists as a “fake clinic.” Care Net, along with hundreds of other centers like it, has been falsely accused of advertising health services allegedly to confuse women seeking an abortion; a procedure the clinic does not perform.
The center’s mission and services are outlined plainly on its website:
Care Net offers hope by providing compassionate practical care, accurate information, Biblical Truth, and life-affirming resources for pregnancy, sexual health & integrity, and abortion recovery.
Care Net of Puget Sound is not an abortion clinic and does not refer, facilitate, or provide abortions. As a pregnancy support organization assisting pregnant women, we do not offer or provide referrals for birth control.
The Kenmore clinic is among hundreds of legitimate pregnancy support centers labeled “fake clinics” by pro-abortion groups working overtime to discredit them. Through a carefully curated website called Expose Fake Clinics, which informs that “there are close to 3,000 fake clinics across the country vs. fewer than 800 actual abortion & reproductive health clinics,” violent criminals can easily find a center on which to wreak havoc.
The website also provides a database of a “list” of centers by state that includes a clinic’s phone physical address, phone number, website, and “Google Business Page,” making the facility extremely easy to locate.
The New American vetted the information supplied on the websites of so-called fake clinics in Washington State and verified that 99.9 percent are fully transparent about the services provided.
“I feel there are a lot of people who are very misinformed about what happens in pregnancy resource clinics,” explained Heather Vasquez, director of Next Step Pregnancy Services. Vasquez described to The New American the reasons why women visit her clinic:
“We don’t force people to parent or shame them … or start quoting Scripture … it’s nothing like that,” she said. “Our nurses are fantastic. They listen to [these women]; they talk truthfully with them about their options…. I invite people all the time to come and hang out with us and ask our nurses questions.”
Is the Pro-Abortion Outrage Backfiring?
It’s something of a twist, that since the Supreme Court overturned Roe, women are actually visiting pregnancy centers at an increased rate, even in deep-blue Washington State. Vasquez claims that her center is seeing “lots and lots of visits from folks who are seeking our services or want to learn more.”
Next Step Pregnancy Services has also been falsely designated as a “fake clinic.” The center, which has been serving the Lynnwood community for almost 25 years and meets with approximately 1,200 clients a month was attacked on May 25 in the dark of night by a criminal clad head to toe in a black hoodie and masks. The FIB was contacted, as was the local police, but no arrests have been made.
As evidenced by Vasquez’s comments, it appears the Left’s strategy to expose “fake clinics,” i.e., pregnancy crisis centers, may be backfiring. Yet this hasn’t caught up to the Democrats who persist in their plight to ensure the “right to choose.”
On June 23, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Congresswomen Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.), and Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) introduced the Stop Anti-Abortion Disinformation Act. The bill aims “to crack down on false advertising that crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) employ to dissuade patients from getting the reproductive care they need, including abortion care.”
“With a far-right Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, it’s more important than ever to crack down on so-called ‘crisis pregnancy centers’ that mislead women about reproductive health care. I’m working in the Senate to stop these deceptive practices and ensure every American can access the abortion care they need,” said Senator Warren in a press release.
“No one should have to question that the person they are seeking medical advice from is actually a doctor or that information is accurate, objective, and complete,” said Congresswoman Maloney. “It is truly disgusting that reproductive rights are being threatened and attacked by crisis pregnancy centers whose guiding principle is to mislead, misinform, and outright lie to pregnant people in order to dissuade them from having an abortion. It is long past time that we prohibit these predatory tactics to undermine reproductive rights. This legislation cracks down on disinformation by simply requiring the FTC to ensure honesty for those that advertise reproductive healthcare.”
Since the overturning of Roe, a historic decision covered continuously for the past two weeks by the mainstream news, it is plausible to question whether the majority of women in America believe that they can no longer get an abortion and thus are seeking help from pregnancy crisis centers, which would be a good thing.
Why Are Blue States So Angry?
In Washington, California, New York, and Massachusetts, violent acts against churches and pro-life groups has escalated rapidly, but why are pro-abortion activists so enraged in these Democratic-run states?
As King County council member Reagan Dunn aptly pointed out on the Dori Monson Show on KIRO NewsRadio: “Nothing at all has changed in Washington State. The Supreme Court gave the state local control. Nothing’s changed.”
Dunn is the lone King County council member who spoke out against the recent ordinance passed in a vote of 8-1 that allocates “emergency funding” for women crossing into the Pacific Northwest seeking an abortion.
“Activists in King County now want to spend your tax dollars to try and provide those services to people in other states who aren’t paying taxes here,” exclaimed Dunn.
Leading the “emergency funding” project is King County Executive Dow Constantine. He has declared that “the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade is the culmination of a decades-long strategy by right-wing zealots to strip the essential right to abortion care from millions of Americans.”
Constantine signed an executive order on July 5 declaring protections for women traveling to Washington from another state with more restrictions seeking an abortion.
“If someone out of state travels to King County to get abortion care, this government will not help law enforcement prosecute them back home,” Constantine wrote in a tweet. “Today I signed an executive order that protects the freedom and health of everyone receiving care here.”
The Attacks Continue
Radical King County’s pledge to “protect women’s reproductive health” comes amid a wave of attacks on pro-life centers and churches in the Seattle suburbs. Here’s a quick recap:
St. Louise Catholic Church in Bellevue, Wash., was vandalized on June 28. Then on June 30, St. Anthony’s Parish in Renton was targeted. In both cases, glass windows and doors were smashed with rocks, and church grounds were defaced with graffitied messages reading “stay away from abortion clinics,” “women haters,” “abusers,” “kid groomers,” and other anti-Christian, pro-abortion rhetoric.
Father Gary Zender, of St. Louise Church, told The New American that the alleged perpetrator, Maeve Nota, 31, had thrown rocks at the glass door entrance to the parish office then kicked and slammed up against it, causing severe damage.
Zender explained that a person praying in the chapel next to the office was scared for her life, as Nota moved on to the parish hall and threw more rocks at a door before being confronted by a church employee, who was spray-painted in the face and ear.
Nota, who was first reported to be a male, then reported to be a female, was arrested and jailed on charges of a hate crime. Nota was released on bond awaiting trial after two days in jail, said Bellevue Police.
Reportedly no arrests have been made in the attack on St. Anthony’s.
