I have been receiving these emails from a friend of mine about a man who was on trial against Planned Parenthood. This guy went into a Planned Parenthood building that was under construction, blew a horn, and then walked out.
Well, because he criminally trespassed, PP pressed charges on him and took him to court. Yes, there are a million “NO TRESPASSING” signs all over the PP grounds. This guy, we’ll call him Stan, recently had his day in court. My friend sent me an e-mail update about this guy saying that he was pleading not guilty.
I was confused because I was certain that he did, in fact, criminally trespass onto their property and blow a horn, so how was he not guilty? However, I decided to wait and see what his argument was going to be. Well, the day arrived and Stan found himself in court against PP.
Stan read a piece of paper stating how abortion had robbed children of their rights and how PP was doing this every day, but did he trespass on to their property and blow a horn? Yes. Did he state that he did that? Yes. Was he still pleading not guilty? YES. Stay with me here…
As it turns out, Stan seems to be a nice guy and the judge is super pro-life. So, the judge decides to only give him probation because the judge thinks he is “such a nice guy.” Plus, he sympathizes with his situation because he is also pro-life. My friend also tells me how there were so many lawyers and workers of the court who were there wearing pro-life garb such as bracelets and things like that. That couldn’t have hurt Stan’s cause.
But is this right? I mean, the guy criminally and intentionally trespasses onto someone else’s property and just because he’s a nice guy and the judge values life, this guy basically walks a free man? You may be wondering why I am not jumping for joy about this. Well, here’s why. It isn’t fair. It isn’t justice. This is not what our judicial system is about. What if it were the other way around?
Let’s say you were the director of a pregnancy center and you were in the middle of constructing a beautiful new building. One day some pro-choice loon decides to trespass onto your property and stage some sort of demonstration right in the middle of your new, beautiful pregnancy center. You would be angry. You would, of course, press charges. You would go to court.
You walk into court and everyone is wearing PP bracelets. You recognize the judge and he’s a well-known supporter of PP. He tells the court that he supports PP and a woman’s right to choose and thinks the guy that trespassed is “such a nice guy” that he basically gets a slap on the wrist. You would be FURIOUS!!! That would not be a win. That would not be justice. We would want better. We would EXPECT better.
That is exactly what has happened in this situation. I am not happy with this outcome because I believe that if you break the law, you deserve to suffer the consequences regardless of being pro-life or pro-choice. What this guy did is not right. It was a crime. I believe he deserves to pay for his action.
I believe that if we are going to win this fight we must play by the rules, which means following the law, not breaking it. Don’t people understand this is the reason people in the pro-choice movement call us lunatics.
Going into a building a blowing a horn? Really? What has that done for the movement? This guy has broken the law. More fuel to their fire. Better to spend time volunteering for a pregnancy center or sidewalk counseling outside of an abortion clinic, not trespassing onto Planned Parenthood property.
I absolutely agree! This is exactly what is happening with the Supreme Court nominees under this administration. They are being picked on how they “feel” about a situation, not whether or not it’s constitutional. I was just scratching my head at the second sentence–what was that all about? Blowing the horn? Did that help anyone–a pregnant woman? An unborn child? Go talk to people–intelligently, lovingly–but trespassing to blow a horn???
My friend gave me the link to this site and she was completely right in every way keep up your fantastic work!
So surprised that there is a pro-lifer out there with a true sense of justice. A win is not a win unless it is honorable a just.
Thank you. I as well support this cause. I’m a humanist all the way.
The difference between trespassing on a Planned Parenthood clinic and a pregnancy center is that the pregnancy clinic is not being constructed for the purpose of commiting murder after murder. In Texas, the defense of third persons for unlawful force is a valid defense for a crime of tresspassing. Read this brief by Cliff Zarsky who had his own trespassing case: http://corpuschristirighttolife.com/index.cfm?load=news&newsarticle=120&page=30
As the law stands right now, Dan, there is no difference. If we are going to win this battle, we must do it by following the law. If what he did was legal, then he wouldn’t have had to go to court in the first place.
blowing a horn… classic!
The issue here is the difference in trespassing and criminal trespassing. If I walk across your yard, whether or not you have signs posted, I am simply trespassing. If I walk onto your property with a can of gas and start pouring it out on your yard, I am criminally trespassing because I am now committing a crime. Blowing a horn is simply disturbing the peace.
Abby,
My wife Carrie (who survived her mother’s abortion attempt on her life 43 years ago and is now miraculously pregnant with our, “Second Generation abortion Survivors” and I are fully behind you on this one! God even instructs us in the New Testament to obey the laws of the land, unless the violate a higher law of God. Yes, Peter and many of the other apostles broke direct commands from the authorities to not preach in the name of our Messiah, but He told them (us) clearly to preach the Gospel to all creatures, so to obey the authorities and not to preach would be obeying God rather then men. Given the situation with the horn (shofar) blowing, I can’t help but be reminded about Joshua and Jericho. God didn’t tell Joshua to go inside the walls and blow the shofar, but instead, they quietly walked around outside for 6 days…and only at God’s command, on the Seventh day, after their 7th time around the city, God commanded them to blow their shofars and shout, and the walls came tumbling down, at which point, they went in an occupied the City.
Carrie and I are praying seriously about a move back to her hometown of Houston, largely because we want her birth mother (who she has since reconciled with after the failed abortion attempt), to share in the joy of our pregnancy and the birth of her grandchildren, but also, we feel the Lord has given us a vision, to, only as God makes it possible, turn the Houston pph clinic into a Christian Pregnancy Counseling Center, and eventually be involved in helping others around the country do the same thing with the clinics in their areas.
May God continue to bless all that you do for His Kingdom, and thank you for honoring His word in your above stance on this issue!
In Messiah Yeshua (Jesus’ name in Hebrew)
Richard and Carrie Fischer
http://cafepress.com/SecondGeneration
865-719-9096
Uh, he was sentenced to probation. He’s, therefore, guilty.
I also agree with Abby. The laws are the laws, and if you break them you have to put up with the consequences of your actions. One of the comments mentioned the difference between trespassing and criminal trespassing. I don’t honestly know what the difference between the two is, but this article states that the guy got probation. Now I’m not entirely sure what the normal punishment for trespassing is, but it can’t be that bad. All you’re doing is walking onto someones property. As long as you don’t break anything, touch anything, or steal anything then it is a very minimum amount of harm you’ve actually done. Should the guy have gotten a year in jail just for walking in and blowing a horn? Is that obnoxious? Yes. Is it trespassing? Yes. Probation seems like a pretty good punishment to me, since no one was hurt and nothing broken. Just my opinion…