The nation has recently been shocked by revelations of police brutality in Los Angeles. A videotape shot by an amateur showed the brutal beating of Rodney King by L.A. police. King was repeatedly kicked in the head, side, and abdomen while he lay helpless.
The continuing outrage over this incident is justified. Due process of law is accorded the most violent criminal in America. And protection from physical abuse at the hands of the police is an absolute requirement for a free society.
But I am disturbed that voices in the media have been silent over police treatment of prolife demonstrators in cities such as Los Angeles, Pittsburgh, Atlanta, and Hartford, Connecticut. Operation Rescue demonstrators attempting to block entrances to abortion clinics were the targets of the abuse (CT, April 8, 1991, p. 60).
While there are differences of opinion about the appropriateness of barring entrance to abortion clinics (the Christian Action Council, which I serve as president, does not endorse the blockade strategy), there should be no difference of opinion over ruthless police tactics used against those who want to save the lives of the unborn. Besides being jailed, these nonviolent demonstrators have suffered broken arms, sexual harassment, and even miscarriage. In one instance a videotape shot by prolifers shows L.A. police breaking the arm of one demonstrator, Michael Houseman, with a nunchaku, a weapon of Asian origin, possession of which is illegal in California.
In the documentary The Brutal Truth, produced by American Portrait Films, other prolifers relate their treatment by the police as follows:
The Rev. Norman Weslin: “It was excruciating pain. It was calculated torture; the policemen were enjoying the pain.”
Tammy Cable: “One guard picked me up by my bra … and I was totally exposed. They drug me up five flights of stairs by my bra.”
Deborah Grumbine: “I miscarried my ninth child. The medical opinion is that the probable cause was the excessive and violent use of nunchaku, and the plastic restraints.”
Attorney Rossanna Weissert, who has filed a class-action suit against the city of Pittsburgh on behalf of women rescuers, has argued that the women were verbally abused by jail guards with threats of rape and sodomy. Other prolifers tell of Mace being sprayed in the faces of demonstrators and even in the face of a two-year-old child.
Does not our country guarantee “justice for all”? Yet at the time of this writing, both state and federal authorities have refused to probe deeply the need to prosecute various policemen for abuse to prolifers.
It is time that the prolife movement and Christians of every persuasion join together and denounce such brutal tactics. If such brutality had been used against demonstrators protesting apartheid, the national news media undoubtedly would have elevated the incident to the status of scandal. Sadly, no such controversy has emerged surrounding the treatment of prolifers.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “To sin by silence when they should protest makes cowards out of men.” Perhaps this sin of silence is the greatest shortcoming of the church in America today. Our indifference and silence have allowed 25 million unborn children to be destroyed in the last 17 years. And continued silence in the face of the unjust treatment of those who oppose the killing is evidence of a church that has ceased to be the salt of the earth.
For my part, I intend to speak out. The lives of the unborn demand it. The integrity of my brothers and sisters requires it. And my Lord commands it. For inasmuch as we do it for the least of his brethren, we do it for him.
By Thomas A. Glessner, president of the Christian Action Council, an evangelical prolife organization with headquarters in the Washington, D.C., area.
Speaking Out offers responsible Christians a forum for their views on contemporary issues. It does not necessarily reflect the opinions of CHRISTIANITY TODAY.
