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Evidence might have helped FBI make rare arrest in pro-life case

Evidence might have helped FBI make rare arrest in pro-life case


Evidence might have helped FBI make rare arrest in pro-life case

After a vandal spray-painted an Ohio pregnancy clinic with threatening messages, a grateful pro-life activist is praising authorities who made an arrest while pointing out others arrests and prosecutions are rare despite a long list of incidents.

In April, a vandal was shown on surveillance video spray-painting messages such as “fake clinic” and “Abort God” on Her Choice, a Bowling Green pregnancy center. According to the FBI, that suspect is Whitney Durant, a student at Bowling Green State University, who has pleaded not guilty to one misdemeanor charge of violating the federal FACE Act.

Rochelle Sikora, executive director of the clinic, says security cameras captured the vandalism but what really helped, she says, was additional evidence.

“We had some social media posts from her that looked really suspicious after the event,” she tells AFN, “and so we turned that over to the police.”

Durant is well known to Falcons for Life, a pro-life group on the college campus, for screaming at them in public and for bullying them online, according to a related article by Catholic News Agency. She also leads a left-wing student group on campus that has targeted the pro-lifers, the story states. 

After the vandalism, Falcons for Life helped clean the graffiti off the walls of the pregnancy center.

Meanwhile, pro-life groups are up in arms because the arrest and prosecution of violent abortion supporters is extremely rare considering such incidents have topped more than 100 after the Dobbs abortion ruling inflamed abortion supporters 13 months ago.

An act of vandalism, such as tossing Molotov cocktails and writing threatening messages, is considered an act of intimidation and is therefore classified as domestic terrorism by the Department of Justice. Yet few arrests have been wide across the country. 

“I'm thrilled that they did press charges,” Sikora says. “That is rare now these days."