Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) is introducing legislation in the U.S. Senate that he says will “put an end to the attacks” against pregnancy resource centers and houses of worship nationwide.
According to Fox News, the Missouri senator is proposing the legislation to “get tough on thugs who engage in violence, arson, and other means of destruction.”
“The Biden administration has turned a blind eye while radical leftists attack pregnancy care centers and houses of worship,” said Hawley. “And now left-wing politicians are trying to shut them down.”
Hawley’s bill proposes that suspects arrested for attacking such facilities face felony charges. If convicted, they would be punished with a fine of up to $25,000.
Pro-abortion militants found guilty of committing arson against a pregnancy center or house of worship would receive a mandatory seven-year prison sentence.
Also, Hawley’s legislation proposes no less than $20,000 in legal assistance to churches and pregnancy centers damaged or destroyed by such attacks.
Hawley’s bill is welcome news to pro-life advocates who claim that as many as 100 crisis pregnancy facilities and churches have come under attack since May 2 when Politico published a leaked U.S. Supreme Court draft opinion in the case of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Rev. Jim Harden, the president and CEO of CompassCare of Buffalo, New York said the FBI has not communicated with him since one of his pregnancy centers was firebombed on June 7 in Amherst, New York.
And now–five weeks following that arson attack, authorities have yet to arrest suspects in the case.
Appearing on this week’s episode of the CBN News program The Global Lane, Harden said he is still searching for answers from police who were given surveillance video of the early morning attack.
“We have security footage of all points of penetration. So, yeah, we’ve got all that evidence, ” Harden explained. “Two weeks before we were firebombed, we actually reported it to local police and the FBI prior to being firebombed. And on June 7th, you know, we were at 2:30 in the morning, I got a call saying essentially that the glass had been broken and fires had been lit. This is, as I said then I say now, the pro-abortion Kristallnacht, and I’ll keep saying it until we get some arrests.”
A militant pro-abortion group calling itself Janes Revenge has claimed responsibility for the Amherst firebombing and attacks against other pro-life facilities throughout the nation.
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So, to what extent are law enforcement officials and government leaders complicit in harassment and violence directed against pro-life Americans and U.S. Supreme Court Justices?
Harden believes pro-abortion politicians are emboldening the violence.
“Not only are they refusing to criminalize the violence, six days after we were firebombed New York State Governor Hochul came out signing a bill not to investigate the arsonist, but to investigate us. And while she was at the press conference signing the bill, she referred to us as subhuman, calling us Neanderthals,” Harden recalled. “And after that, there was this cascading kind of press PR campaign against pregnancy centers and all-out war.”
Harden said the Biden administration instructed U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the “fraudulent practices” of pregnancy centers and members of the U.S. Congress sent a letter to Google urging the search engine giant to disallow crisis pregnancy centers from advertising on the platform.
“You know, Elizabeth Warren even came out saying we need to stop these crisis pregnancy centers. This is complicity. The job of the government is to protect all people equally, to enforce the law equally,” Harden explained. “And quite frankly, these are hate crimes. We are pro-life Christians who are being targeted for what we believe and it needs to stop. And these politicians need to either get out of the way or be laughed out of office.”
Jane’s Revenge and other pro-abortion militants have promised more attacks.
So, what needs to be done to stop the violence and harassment?
Harden said pro-lifers are fighting back.
“(It’s) open season on pregnancy centers. Rest assured though, we have a team of attorneys and we’re pursuing every legal option at both the state and federal levels. “
Below: Watch the full interview with Rev. Jim Harden and be sure to see The Global Lane on the CBN News Channel.
The remainder of this article is available in its entirety at CBN