Pro-life activist attacked, bloodied outside Baltimore Planned Parenthood

Two elderly men were physically assaulted last week while praying outside a Baltimore Planned Parenthood clinic, leaving blood on the sidewalk and one man with a fractured bone in his face.

On Friday, May 26th, Mark Crosby, 73, and Dick Schaefer, 80, were praying outside an abortion facility when an unidentified white male attacked Schaefer, The Daily Signal reported. Crosby went to his aid and was also attacked.

The assailant reportedly asked a Planned Parenthood escort to hold his drink before viciously assaulting the men. Schaefer told a police officer that the suspect “spoke with him in an aggressive manner, opposing Mr. Schaefer’s pro-life ideals, and without warning, tackled him into a large flower pot.” A security officer provided police with security footage of the incident.

In an email to LifeSiteNews, pro-life activist John Roswell wrote that “Schafer was ‘slammed’ against the glass of the building.” He also provided an update on Crosby’s condition, writing, “Crosby’s plate bone in his upper right cheek is completely fractured…he is bleeding from some unidentified area behind his eye and the bone eye orbit is completely shattered and will have to be replaced with metal.”

A fundraiser has been started for Crosby by Dr. Jay Walton, president of Baltimore County Right to Life in which Crosby was a volunteer. The GoFundMe raised over $40,000, and new donations have since been paused.

Walton said Tuesday, "It is important to note that the two victims were not robbed. This was a vicious attack on two men because they are pro-life. This should be treated as a hate crime and denounced by Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D), as well as Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D). Their silence on this attack will continue to put pro-lifers in danger throughout the state of Maryland," according to The Daily Signal.

LifeSiteNews further reported that, “According to Roswell, while pro-abortion violence against pro-lifers is not uncommon, such events happen significantly more often when an abortion facility escort is present.”

Mark Houck, a pro-life advocate whose home was raided by the FBI, was praying fifty feet from the clinic with his 12-year-old son when he was chased down the street by a Planned Parenthood escort. The Post Millennial reported in January that “a Philadelphia jury found pro-life activist Mark Houck not guilty of violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.” 

According to the CBN, “The group Catholic Vote says 157 churches and 87 pregnancy resources centers and other pro-life organizations across the country have been attacked since the draft Supreme Court opinion proposing to reverse Roe v Wade was leaked in May of 2022.”

Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA) said during a Monday hearing, “These attacks have included firebombing and vandalism, that includes phrases and graffiti-like, ‘If abortions aren't safe, neither are you’, including the smashing of windows, targeted online harassment, protesters threatening violence outside pregnancy resource centers, churches, and many other acts.” In June 2022, a pro-life center in Buffalo, NY, was firebombed by abortion activists.

In October 2022, Biden’s Department of Justice arrested 11 pro-life activists for allegedly blocking access to an abortion clinic. Recently, Republicans held a hearing on the Justice Department “using the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances or FACE Act to unfairly target pro-life activists for prosecution…Despite the hundreds of attacks against churches and pro-life facilities since last year's abortion ruling, the Justice Department has brought only four indictments under the FACE Act against pro-abortion activists, compared to the 26 pro-life activists allegedly facing similar violations.”