The recent defacement of a westside billboard celebrating the sanctity of preborn life, coupled with the vandalism at a nearby Colorado Springs Pregnancy Center operated by Life Network, begs the question:

What are those perpetrating these crimes afraid of?

Rich Bennett, who serves as president of Life Network, the local nonprofit operating the impacted facility that serves those facing unplanned pregnancies, shared his disappointment in last week’s Gazette.

“We exist to serve women and men facing some of the most stressful and vulnerable moments of their lives,” he reflected. “That someone would choose to target a space that provides care to women and men facing difficult times and situations is unthinkable.”

Rich’s graciousness notwithstanding, the sad reality suggests far too many have been thinking a whole lot about finding ways to intimidate those wrestling with the personal implications of preborn life. In the aftermath of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in June 2022 and returning the issue of abortion to the states, hundreds of churches and pregnancy resource clinics have been similarly vandalized. Some have even been firebombed.

Up in Longmont, the “Life Choices Pregnancy Center” was one of them. The abortion zealots and arsonists left a chilling warning scribbled in graffiti. The painted message declared, “If abortions aren’t safe, neither are you.”

Of course, abortion is never safe, especially since an innocent life is always lost. The meteoric rise in the popularity of the mail-order abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol, often taken with no physician oversight, has exponentially elevated health risks for women, too.

So why have these radicals resorted to destruction and desecration?

It was Isaac Asimov, the late Russian-born American writer, who once observed, “Violence is the last refuge of the incompetent.” It’s also the final gasp of those who have either lost an argument or run out of ideas. They recognize they have neither the substance nor the stamina to engage in a fair and robust debate centered on facts, rather than feelings – so they instead choose to destroy.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s reckless rhetoric in March of 2020 undoubtedly added fuel to the fire when he stood before a bank of microphones in front of the Supreme Court and threatened two Supreme Court justices. Both of them would go on to recognize the unconstitutionality of Roe.

“I want to tell you Gorsuch,” Senator Schumer thundered. “I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions.”

Is it any wonder that a would-be assassin showed up outside Justice Kavanaugh’s home a few years later with a handgun and knife and announced plans to kill the judge?

My wife and I are eternally grateful for the three courageous and sacrificial women who carried our three sons to term, all the while rejecting culture’s lie suggesting abortion is helpful healthcare. They’re the very type of women that Life Network helps on a daily basis. From providing free medical services, including pregnancy testing and ultrasounds, to offering mentoring, educational, and parenting guidance, they’re difference-makers.

The Lamar Advertising billboard that was defaced last month featured a smiling baby wearing a pink bow on her head. “Thanks for life, Mom!” it declared alongside the sweet photograph. It also included the tagline, “Life begins at conception.” Only the small-minded would fear such things.

One good thing that came out of the vandalism was that countless more people, most of whom likely never drive along Highway 24, saw the billboard’s pro-life message in press accounts. Some might have been abortion-minded. Joseph’s line from the first book of the Old Testament comes to mind: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.”

Those wanting to support Life Network should know about their upcoming “Walk for Life” on June 6 in Memorial Park. You can walk, run, or financially sponsor someone participating.  

Several months after leaving the presidency in 1809, Thomas Jefferson wrote to the Maryland Republican Committee. He proffered, “The care of human life and happiness, and not their destruction, is the first and only legitimate object of good government.”

It should also be a first priority of a civilized society to respect, preserve and protect the life of the most innocent among us.

Paul J. Batura is a local writer and founder of the 4:8 Media Network. He can be reached via email Paul@PaulBatura.com or on X @PaulBatura.