Pelosi: GOP is ‘politicizing’ abortion issue blaming Dems for violence against pro-life advocates

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi Thursday said Republicans were “politicizing” the abortion issue by blaming Democratic rhetoric for a spate of violent attacks on crisis pregnancy centers and Catholic churches around the country.

“Let me just say this. A woman has a right to choose to live up to her responsibility. It’s up to her, her doctor, her family, her husband, her significant other and her God. This talk of politicizing all of this, I think, is something uniquely American and not right,” the California Democrat said at her weekly press conference.  

“Other countries, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, have had legislative initiatives to expand a woman’s right to choose — very Catholic countries. I’m a very Catholic person, and I believe in every woman’s right to make her own decisions.”

House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, California Republican, called Mrs. Pelosi’s response “disgraceful.”

“Speaker Pelosi just refused to condemn the radical leftist group that has claimed responsibility for a string of violent attacks and threats against pregnancy centers across the nation,” he said in a statement on his Twitter account. “Biden’s Department of Justice must stop ignoring these crimes and take action.”

President Biden himself has not denounced the rise in attacks on churches and pro-life organizations, but a White House assistant press secretary on Wednesday told The Daily Wire, “Violence and destruction of property have no place in our country under any circumstances, and the President denounces this.”

That statement came 10 days after the Republican National Committee said that Democrats were silent as attacks on crisis pregnancy centers have surged.

“In what is becoming an all-too familiar pattern, on Friday yet another pro-life crisis pregnancy center was vandalized, this time only blocks away from the U.S. Capitol,” RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel said. “Sadly, this latest intimidation attempt at the hands of abortion extremists comes on the heels of other vandalization and violent attacks on crisis pregnancy centers and pro-life organizations in Wisconsin, Seattle, Oregon, Texas, and Virginia in recent weeks.”

She noted, “Biden could immediately denounce the abortion extremists committing these egregious acts today, but he would rather bury his head in the sand than upset his radical, pro-abortion base.” 

Attacks by pro-abortion activists on crisis pregnancy centers and Catholic churches have risen since the leak last month of a draft Supreme Court opinion that indicates the justices are prepared to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion across the country.

Last week, a 26-year-old California man, Nicholas Roske, was arrested near the Maryland residence of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Mr. Roske has been formally charged with attempting to assassinate a Supreme Court justice.  

Republicans argue that comments like those made by Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer of New York have endangered the lives of conservatives, including the high court justices who now face routine protests outside of their homes since the leak of the draft opinion.

Mr. Schumer, at a 2020 abortion rally, warned the conservatives on the Supreme Court that, “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.”

Crisis pregnancy centers and churches have been firebombed, vandalized with graffiti and windows smashed, among other attacks.  

In a June 14 communique, the abortion-rights group “Jane’s Revenge” claimed responsibility for some of the attacks.

“You have seen that we are real, and that we are not merely pushing empty words,” the group warned.

“You could have walked away. Now the leash is off. And we will make it as hard as possible for your campaign of oppression to continue,” the group said.

A group of 122 House Republicans sent a letter Wednesday calling on  Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate more than a dozen attacks on pro-life facilities.

“The Department of Justice must act swiftly to investigate and prosecute recent domestic terrorist attacks against pro-life organizations and dissuade future perpetrators of such violence,” the GOP lawmakers said in their letter to Mr. Garland.