Vandals who attacked pro-life pregnancy center forced to pay settlement
The owners of a pro-life pregnancy center have reached a settlement with the vandals who defaced the facility nearly two years after it fell victim to a wave of pro-abortion attacks.
The law firm First Liberty Institute announced in a post on X Thursday that Heartbeat of Miami, a pro-life pregnancy center in Hialeah, Florida, had finally secured "justice" after it was vandalized by pro-abortion activists in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision which ruled the U.S. Constitution does not contain a right to abortion.
The post elaborated on what it meant by “justice,” specifically highlighting that “vandals who spray-painted threatening messages on Heartbeat’s property last year will pay for their crimes.” Expressing gratitude for the assistance of Florida’s Republican Attorney General Ashley Moody for “holding these violent protesters accountable,” First Liberty described the development as a “big win for Florida’s pro-life community.”
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“While we cannot publicly discuss the specifics of the settlement quite yet, the vandals associated with Jane’s Revenge who sought to injure, intimidate and interfere with access to Heartbeat of Miami, and several Florida pregnancy resource centers, will be held to account,” First Liberty stated in a piece published by Life News.
The settlement follows a federal lawsuit filed by First Liberty Institute last year against the group of pro-abortion activists who refer to themselves as Jane’s Revenge and the individuals responsible for the vandalism against Heartbeat of Miami. The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida, sought damages of $5,000 for each violation of federal law committed by each of the defendants.
The vandalism at the center of the lawsuit took place on July 3, 2022, nine days after the Dobbs decision. In early 2023, defendants Caleb Freestone and Amber Smith-Stewart were indicted by a Florida grand jury for defacing the property with pro-abortion messages reading, “if abortions aren’t safe [then] neither are you” and “our rage will not stop” in addition to the symbol for the anarchist movement and the phrase “Jane’s Revenge.”
Heartbeat of Miami was one of several pro-life pregnancy centers and churches targeted following the publication of the Dobbs decision in June 2022. The Dobbs ruling ignited outrage among pro-abortion activists, as it overturned the Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion nationwide and enabled states to enact laws regulating abortion and setting legal limits on when a pregnancy can be terminated.
Vandalism of churches and pro-life pregnancy centers by pro-abortion protesters first began in May 2022, when a draft of the Dobbs decision was leaked. Incidents at pregnancy centers and churches continued beyond the summer of 2022.
Pregnancy centers have also found themselves in the crosshairs of Democrat politicians at the state and federal levels who have sought to shut down the facilities or put them under investigation for allegedly misleading consumers.
Most recently, Massachusetts has launched a $1 million campaign urging residents not to rely on the services of pro-life pregnancy centers, citing concerns that they put women’s health “at risk” and purportedly use “deceptive practices” to attract patients.
While pro-life pregnancy centers have become a target of Democrats and pro-abortion activists in the past two years, they retain support from the American public as a whole. A poll conducted by CRC Advisors in August 2022 found that 74% of Americans support the public funding of pro-life pregnancy centers.
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
