According to news sources, two men – aged 73 and 80 – were brutally beaten while praying outside an abortion facility in Baltimore, Maryland on the morning of May 26, 2023.
Sidewalk Advocates for Life President and CEO Lauren Muzyka responds:
Details of the incident are still forthcoming, but here’s what we know: no one deserves to be violently attacked for exercising their First Amendment rights to try to save the life of a child. Neither of these men is a certified Sidewalk Advocate for Life, meaning they have not been through our training. But we decry all violence, including assaults on pro-life individuals who are peacefully advocating outside abortion facilities, or who are simply praying for the clients going into those facilities. The irony is palpable: the abortion movement, which claims to be “pro-choice,” wants to rip away from pro-life individuals and organizations the right to choose to use their words to advocate for the unborn, the right to choose where to peacefully assemble, and the right to choose to offer pregnant moms resources and options that may impact the decision they make about their preborn babies.
On the other hand, the pro-life movement – and Sidewalk Advocates for Life in particular – encourages women to learn about all the options and resources available to them. Sidewalk Advocates for Life offers a peaceful, prayerful, and law-abiding presence on the sidewalk outside abortion facilities, and we achieve results. In fact, more than 20,000 women have chosen life for their babies thanks to the loving outreach of a certified Sidewalk Advocate.
We are against the violence of abortion. And we are against violence on the sidewalk. The National Sidewalk Advocacy Conference, set for October 6-8 in Dallas, TX, will include presentations on safety on the sidewalk, to help our Advocates understand ways they can best protect themselves – and equip themselves for legal action, should they need to file charges against those whose behavior is less than law-abiding.
In the meantime, Sidewalk Advocates for Life across the nation will continue going out to their local abortion facilities to offer hope and real help to the clients they encounter there. We will do so by following our training to act peacefully, prayerfully, and in accordance with the law. We will pray for the healing of both these men who were criminally attacked – and we will continue to pray for the safety of all Sidewalk Advocates, and all those who desire only to serve women in crisis.
Sidewalk Advocates for Life requires all certified Sidewalk Advocates to sign the Pledge of Integrity, available here, before participating in sidewalk outreach with an SAFL team. For more about our upcoming conference that will train, equip, and support anyone who is committed to peaceful and loving pro-life outreach — whether on the sidewalk, at a pregnancy resource center, in a church or at school, or even online — visit prolifeconference.com.