| It’s warm and beautiful outside. The birds are chirping, and the sun is shining. That can only mean one thing …It’s time for the Summer of Lawsuits to begin in the Pro-life Community!
Not to be confused with the Summer of Mercy in Wichita, Kansas, which occurred in 1991 and 2001 when pro-life Christians laid down their lives for unborn children. No, this is the “Summer of Lawsuits” which began in 2008 when Mr. Randall Terry (who says, “I am Operation Rescue”) filed a lawsuit against Mr. Troy Newman for the trademark name “Operation Rescue.” |
Randall Terry (right) – with attorney Michael Culver |
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I guess Mr. Terry expects us to forget that he abandoned Operation Rescue in 1991 (while the rest of us carried on) – but let’s not quibble about facts. The true prize in this lawsuit is the Operation Rescue web site owned by the Newman group. They have been relentless in hounding the most notorious abortionist in America – George Tiller – both in court and on their website. (George Tiller does abortions up to the day of birth).
Sadly, more important than stopping a baby killer is Terry’s desire for the Newman website -www.operationrescue.com Troy Newman’s website ranks about 1 million – while Randall Terry’swebsites rank somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 – 21 million. In web terms, Terry’s websites don’t even exist.
Terry claims that he wants to make the Newman-owned website a historical site, showing the history of Operation Rescue. Well, if you believe that, I have a bridge I want to sell you. Regardless – the abortionist George Tiller will have the heat taken off him – and more unborn babies will pay the price. This would be an extremely odd move for the man who claims to be “Operation Rescue.”
Let’s take a look back and see what were the true origins of Operation Rescue.
Operation Rescue – A Timeline
(Note: This is more a documenting of “firsts” in the pro-life movement rather than a timeline. Randall Terry’s words leave you with the impression that pro-life peaceful resistance began with him. It did not).
One of the books Randall Terry cites as “evidence” that Troy Newman has no legitimate claim to the name Operation Rescue is called “Wrath of Angels.” Since Terry wants this book to be admitted as a “proof text,” it is only fair that we consider its claims. Terry was one of many pro-life activists who consented to be interviewed for the book which presents a fairly even-handed history of the movement up until the mid-1990s. All information except for the answer to the last question comes from the book ‘Wrath of Angels” by James Risen and Judy Thomas. Page numbers are cited after each answer.
The first sit-in related to the abortion issue took place … in February 1970 when Michael Schwartz, a student at the University of Dallas organized a brief occupation of a Planned Parenthood office north of downtown Dallas. Although abortion was still illegal in Texas at this time, the Planned Parenthood office helped women fly to states where abortion was legal (pg. 21)
The first attempt to infiltrate a place where abortions were taking place for the purpose of sitting in … took place in June of 1970. About 250 people protested at George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C. Five protesters sneaked into the hospital to stage a sit-in inside but were caught and arrested before they could get very far. (pg. 21)
The first sit-in that took place at an abortion mill … was in the summer of 1975 outside of Washington, D.C.
The person regarded as the “father of the rescue movement” … is John Cavanaugh-O’Keefe, a devout Catholic who led some of the first rescues and wrote on the philosophical underpinnings of the pro-life direct action movement. (Chapter 3)
The first group to be arrested for sitting in at an abortion mill … was the “Sigma Six”; a group of women who sat-in at the Sigma Reproductive Health Services clinic in Rockville, Maryland (pg. 62)
The first person to call sit-ins rescues … Jack O’Brien of Philadelphia. He was deeply influenced by O’Keefe’s arguments that sit-ins were not symbolic acts but efforts to save lives by preventing abortions from taking place. (pg. 67)
The first group to adopt the moniker “rescues” to describe abortion mill sit-ins … Joe Wall’s Philadelphia group that started their campaign in the early 1980s. (pg. 168)
The first people to actively recruit Protestants to take part in “rescues” … were Mary Ann Kreitzer and David Gaetano in response to a challenge from a Catholic Bishop said he would take part in sit-ins and encourage his parishioners to do the same if Protestant clergy and their members also got involved. (pg. 73) Harry Hand, who worked with O’Keefe in 1984, focused on recruiting Protestant clergy for an event that would have 1000 people sitting in at an abortion mill. (pg. 88)
The first use of the necessity defense by rescuers … took place in 1977. Attorney John Brandt who was representing pro-lifers in Fairfax County, Virginia presented the necessity defense argument before Judge Lewis Griffith. It worked – his clients were acquitted. (pg. 71)
The first time people served a multi-day jail sentence for rescuing … was in June 1983 when pro-lifers in St. Louis, Missouri received jail terms ranging from 225 to 314 days. (pg. 163)
The first federal court injunction against rescuers … was issued by Judge Calvin Clarke against eleven individuals in 1978 (pg. 73)
The first people pro-lifers thought would lead a national pro-life activism effort … were Joseph Scheidler and John Ryan. A major disagreement between Scheidler and Terry quashed any possibility of Scheidler serving in a leadership capacity in Operation Rescue (pg. 118-119). John Ryan of St. Louis was brought down by a scandal caused by the breakup of his first marriage. (pg. 177-180) Randall Terry made it clear to the St, Louis group that he wanted Ryan thrown out of PLAN and kept from assuming any leadership role in Operation Rescue (pg. 182)
The first organization to meet to plan a national activism movement that would include rescues … was the Pro-Life Action Network which first met in Fort Lauderdale in 1984 (pg. 113) . In 1986, Randall Terry was named one of PLAN’s five regional directors
The person who came up with the name Operation Rescue … was David Long. (pg. 256) He was inspired by Randall Terry’s work in Binghamton, New York and formed an organization called Project Life of Rochester. During a sit-in at a PLAN convention, he whispered the name “Operation Rescue” to Terry and explained it was a new name for sit-ins he had been playing around with back in Rochester. (pg. 256) Later, Terry tried to recruit David Long to come work for him but Long thought it should have been the other way around. He questioned Terry’s leadership skills and feared his “headstrong, autocratic style” would prove disastrous for the movement. Although Long gave up the rights to the name, they parted acrimoniously (pg. 258)
The first person to trademark the name Operation Rescue … Troy Newman. Randall Terry filed a DBA form for the name but never had it trademarked. See: www.operationrescuetheft.com)