{"id":78077,"date":"2015-10-25T11:45:46","date_gmt":"2015-10-25T15:45:46","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=78077"},"modified":"2015-10-24T11:20:43","modified_gmt":"2015-10-24T15:20:43","slug":"media-seizes-on-abortion-advocate-claim-pro-life-protester-rapist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/media-seizes-on-abortion-advocate-claim-pro-life-protester-rapist\/","title":{"rendered":"Media seizes on abortion advocate’s claim that pro-life protester is a rapist"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It may sound hyperbolic to claim the pro-abortion commentariat have sunk to a new low, but if this story doesn\u2019t warrant it, nothing does.<\/p>\n

Websites including Jezebel<\/a>, Alan Colmes<\/a>, Raw Story<\/a>, Liberal America<\/a>, and Addicting Info<\/a> have seized upon the story of a pro-life protest against the Red River Women\u2019s Clinic abortion mill in Fargo, North Dakota, and pro-abortion counter-protestor Nik Severson, during which it was stated\u00a0that one of the anti-abortion protesters, Bartholomew Schumacher, was a convicted rapist.<\/p>\n

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Severson claims that when he told protesters about Schumacher\u2019s record:<\/p>\n

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They called me liar, they screamed at me to leave. I showed a few of them the article and still they denied it. They called the cops on me and the police officer confirmed that the man was who I said he was. The \u201cChristians\u201d shook his hand and hugged him. It was the most disgusting thing I had ever seen in my life.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Jezebel, Addicting Info, and Raw Story un-skeptically repeat Severson\u2019s accusation. LA\u2019s Andrew Bradford adds:<\/p>\n

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Interesting how someone who is so ardent in his support of denying women their Constitutional right to do with their bodies as they wish once thought it was perfectly acceptable to tie up and woman and force her to submit to his perverted whims.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

AI\u2019s Lucius McMannis absurdly calls some random local-level activist no pro-lifer outside Fargo (and probably almost no pro-lifer in Fargo) has ever heard of \u201cthe leader of the anti-abortion side.\u201d And Colmes, who once devoted a whole book chapter<\/a> to deeming probable serial rapist<\/a> Bill Clinton \u201cour greatest president,\u201d sneers that \u201cit\u2019s fine, because he\u2019s \u2018pro-life.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The message is the foulest attempt to revive the War on Women narrative yet: See? Pro-lifers pal around with rapists! Just goes to show you anti-choicers don\u2019t want women controlling their bodies at all!<\/em><\/p>\n

Time for a reality check (the real kind, not the RH kind<\/a>).<\/p>\n

First, as would be unnecessary to explain in a saner world, the pro-life movement has no magical powers that enable us to stop bad people from adopting our positions or suddenly know the backgrounds of complete strangers who show up at pro-life events (and the sins of isolated pro-life individuals no more indicts the broader movement than do those of violent pro-choice individuals<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Nobody runs background checks on everybody who shows up in front of an abortion clinic\u2014as is the case with any activism on any issue, such as the anti-Iraq War protests of the Bush years or the pro-union protests against Scott Walker. If somebody conducts themselves civilly and shows no signs of being violent or a troublemaker, they\u2019re going to get the benefit of the doubt.<\/p>\n

Pro-aborts have leveled lots of outlandish criticisms at pro-lifers over the years, but are we now to blame for not being psychic as well? Really?<\/p>\n

Second, the counter to that would be Severson\u2019s allegation that the Fargo pro-life crowd was informed of Schumacher\u2019s crimes and didn\u2019t care. That, admittedly, would reflect badly on those in attendance, if not the 99.9999999999999999999999999999 [give or take a few dozen 9s] percent of pro-lifers who didn\u2019t happen to be in Fargo, North Dakota that day. But there\u2019s ample reason to doubt Severson\u2019s version of events.<\/p>\n

To recap, Nik Severson is a classy gent<\/a> who brandished a \u201cHail Satan\u201d sign (seriously, what is it with pro-aborts and the devil<\/a>?), repeatedly swore at pro-lifers, and according to a pro-abortion clinic escort<\/em> \u201cwasn\u2019t there for the women but for himself,\u201d routinely pestering women for their names and \u201cask[ing] them to tweet at John Oliver so that he could get on John Oliver\u2019s show\u201d\u2014hardly the record of objectivity, reason, and good faith that makes for reliable uncorroborated testimony. That means we don\u2019t really know:<\/p>\n