1987 Issue 1 - Protest in Pensacola - Counsel of Chalcedon

8/12/2019 1987 Issue 1 - Protest in Pensacola - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Protest in Pensacola

Pro-Life Activists From 10 States Oppose

Abortion and Injustice in this Florida City

woman who was arrested in Pensacola

in

March, 1986, for entering "The

Ladies Center", the same clinic picketed

Thanksgiving weekend, and pulling on

a cord or hose connected with an

abortion suction machine. Circuit

Jud

ge

William Anderson eventually sentenc

ed

Joan Andrews to five years n prison.

toda

y,

probably think of persecution .

as

something that happened long ago,

or

,

if it happens today,

it

takes place far

away. The case of Joan Andrews proves

that .persecution, especially

of

Chris

tians, is happening today, right here

in

the United States.

Thanksgiving weekend the pro-lifers

first conducted a pic

ket

and pray

er

vigil

in front

of

The Ladies Center ab

or

tion

clinic.

It

rained the entire weekend.

s

a result of s

ome

picketers bl

oc

king a

truck that attempted to enter the clos

ed

clinic grounds, seven people were

arrested by police. One woman was

arrested for alledgedly tape recording a

policeman's conversation without

his

knowledge, and one elderly man w

as

On

Thanksgiving weekend, Novem

ber 28-29, over 300 pro-life

~ t v s t s

from

at

least ten states gathered n

Pen

sacola, F1orida to attempt

to

close

down

that city's only remaining abortion

cllni, to protest the excessive prison

sentence and abusive treatmentof a pro

life woman arrested earlier, and to moti

vate. an apathetic Christian community

in the area

to

greater activism in piit

ting a stop

to

the continued murder of

unborn babies inPensacola,

in

the state

of Florlda and all over this land. The

Pensacola "Christian" community is

so

apathetic that

only

a handful of pro-life

activists can

be

found locally. This

inspite of the fact that two other abor

tion clinics were closed due to

ef

forts of pro-life activists n 1984. Thus,

pro-lifers froni around the country deter

mined to protest in Pensacola. They

came,

n cars and busses, from

Mis-

souri, Arkansas, Pennsylvania, Ohio,

Texas, Washington, Tennessee, Vir

ginia, Georgia

and

California. Among

those from

.Georgia were members of

Chalcedon Presbyterian Church and

Calvary Temple of Atlanta. Among the

l ~ ~ r s present were Joe Scheidler of

Chicago and John Ryan

of

St. Louis.

Friday, November 28, the day after

Thank

sgiving, some 300 prolife activists

fr(lm ten states picket the Ladles Center,

the

only abortion clinic remaining

in Pensacola, Fl

or

ida.

By

the

time

the week-end events .

ended, 15 Christians had been arrested

and

physically abused by Pensacola

Police, but the abortion clinic was

closed

for the

week

end, Friday through

' Sunday. The Pensacola papers gave ex

.tensive coverage to the events,

at

least

ifl

terms

of

.space. Typical

of

today's

media all over, the coverage was clearly

biased against pro-life.

Probably the primary motivation that

drew people from so many states a

week-end when they all would doubtless

have preferred

to

have

~ y e d

home, was

a desire to protest the plight of Joan

Andrews, a 38 year-old Christian

The same day,

in the

same courtroom,

udge Anderson sentenced two men

convicted

of

accomplices to murder four

. years

in

prison

At

the present time

Joan Andrews is being held

in

a max

imum security facility, the Broward

Correctional Institution in Pembroke

Pines, Florida, near Ft. Lauderdale. She

is in

a cell with a lesbian prisoner who

is abusive to her, and Joan is subjected

to a body search whenever she is moved

out of her cell, including a search

of

all

her body cavities.

It

is ironic that the

Wire

services invariably indicate Joan

was convicted

of

assault, since she is a

pacifist. She not only would not assault

someone, she will no t even protect her-

. self from assault. We, in this country

The Counsel

or

Cbalcedon, January, 1987 _

arrested when he bent over to pick up;a

police radio dropped to the ground by

the policeman. The man was charged

with burglary, the police claiming th

at

he took the radio, ran with it-to a bus

and tried to hide it. Pro-lifers told The

Counsel of

Chalcedon that the man was

merely trying to pick up the radio to

give back to the policeman.

Florida's burglary law the man could

get up to years in prison Airtong

those arrested on Friday at the clinic

was Joan Andrews mother, Elizabeth,

6

8, of

Lewislmrg, Tennessee. When

people went to the Escambia County

Jail to

talk to those arrested, they were

told to leave or they would be arrested.

On Saturday, November.29, the pr,o-


2/4

lifers gathered in Pensacola's Seville Square, where, in the

rain, thecrowd listened to a number

of

speakers. Among those

addressing the crowd were, Joe Scheidler

of

Chicago, John

Ryan

of St

Louis, Penny Lea

of

Pensacola, and John Burt,

the Pensacola pro-lifer who was arrested the same day Joan

Andrews was arrested last March and who is now on probation

and under orders to pay restitution. Burt operates Our Father's

House, a home for pregnant women, but the court has

demanded that he get another job

to

pay restitution in his case.

After the rally in Seville Square the crowd went

to

the

home of Judge William Anderson, the judge who sentenced

Joan Andrews to

5

years in prison. Here eight people were

arrested for leaving signs

n the Judge's yard (under the litter

ing law), and for praying and refusing to move when ordered

by police.

The ungodly attitude

of

what appears to be the majority of

people in this country today, and

of

the media generally, was

expressed by Paul Jasper, Editorial Page Editor of the

Pensacola News Journal, in a November 30th, 1986 editorial

immediately after the events of that weekend. The editorial

was entitled,

Mob violence cannot

e

tolerated

This title

itself sets the tone for the unbiblical views expressed. The

comments refer to

the violent confrontation between Pensa

cola police and pro-life protesters as an especially frighten

ing development t speaks of the level of violence and

. contempt for law in these pro-life marches escalating. t

accuses so-called pro-life marches

of

being led by profes

sional, out-of-town protesters whose singular goal s to

precipitate violent controntations. t says these protests are

given to total disrespect of the law and personal property

rights.

This is absurd rhetoric for at least three obvious reasons.

First. it is highly inconsistent, inappropriate and ludicrous on

the face of it, to vilify those who block a car from moving, or

leave a sign in a yard, and characterize this as mob violence ,

when it is being done to save lives from being murdered.

When we compare blocking a car with the murder that goes on

in the clinics, which is the violent act? To have to call this

analogy to anyone's attention is indicative

of

the state of

affairs in our country today.

Secondly, as intimated above, the actions

of

those pro

lifers who were arrested can hardly be accurately characterized

by such expressions as mob violence and violent con

frontation.

f

these were accurate descriptions then a great,

great deal more could have happened. f abortionist, abortion

supporters, pro-abortion media, and pro-abortion people in the

judiciary and the police were

to

receive what they de serve, it

could truly be described as mob violence and violent

confrontation.

Thirdly, it shows a callous lack

of

perception and a clear

ungrateful attitude to speak of pro-life activists, generally,

with such expressions as contempt for law and total

disrespect for the law. The truth is that Christians have the

highest regard for duly constituted law of anybody. The

Christian hates lawlessness. This is, in fac

t

the reason the

Christian pro-lifer hates abortion.

t

is against the law

of

the

Picketers block a

truck

which tried to enter

the

compound or the closed abortion clinic. Martha Rawlins

of the Chalcedon Presbyterian Church s

at

upper left.

One of the women blocking the

truck

is hauled off by

Pensacola Policemen.

One or the people participating_ in the picket ls Elizabeth

Andrews, 68, of Lewisburg, Tennessee, the mother of

Joan Andrews. Elizabeth was arrested later on thls day.

When picketers went to the Escambla County Jail to

vlsit those arrested, they were told to leave and

threatened with

arrest

________ The Counsel of Chalccdon, January, 1987


3/4

:

>

. i

Saturday

morning, November 29,

Joe

Scheidler of

Chicago, Ullnois addresses the pro-life crowd

in

Pensacola's Seville

square.

Saturday

November

29, the

pro-lifers picket

the

home

of

Circuit Judge

William Anderson,

the

judge who sentenced

_

Joan

Andrews to 5 years in prison for

t r y i n ~ :

to save

lives. -

Ray Harris 6 ~ o f

Houston

1

Texas, wears a sign which

says.,."NeutraU

fs

disobedience to the Word of

God."

Mi

narrJs was ater

arrested

for

alledgedly "stealing" a

policeman's radio

., .

_ J; be

i

9 u n s e l

qf

Chalcedon, January,

1987

...1

God who created life and all things. The ONLY conditions

under

which

a Christian can even consider breaking

any law is

when that law is contrary to the law of God.

t

s only because

abortion

is

so clearly a violation of the law

of

God that

the

pro-life Christian would break

any

man-made law, even in

the

slightest degree.

The plain truth is that those who should be fairly

characterized by terms such

as

"contempt for the

law and

"total disrespect for the law" are

the

judiciary in this

COWltry

that supports legalized abortion, a civil magistrate that pro

tects abortionists and harrasses those who would save life,

and

journalists such

as

Paul Jasper

who

revile against those

who

respect God's law and seek

to

excuse themselves for

gross

violations of God's law, to the point of murder.

Mr. Jasper says, in

his

editorial, that the Pensacola

News

Journal opposes legalized abortion. From

ta1king

with people

in Pensacola it would seem that this is pure rhetoric, There

is

no .evidence that they mean . t. They have done nothing to

prove such a contention.

nd

any time someone does try to

do

something to show they really oppose abortion, Mr. Jasper

and his colleagues at the News Journal and other newspapers

invariably vilify and slander them for their efforts to stop

rampant

n g o d l ~ e s s

Paul Jasper's true colors showed loud and clear in a later

editorial in which

he

ended with the words, "They ought to

take every .fanatic in the world and shoot . hem down like a

dog.'' The context

of

his statement left little doubt in

the

minds

of

Pensacola residents who informed me

of

.

this

editorial that he

was

referring to what he views

as

pro-life

fanatics. . .

As

we have reiterated many times in the pages of

this

magazine, the civil magistrate

was

ordained by God

to

protect

those who do good and to punish those who do evil.

(Romans

13:1-7; I Peter 2:13-14) Good and evil, of course, are defmed

by God and the civil magistrate is under obligation to function

according

to

God's law. He will give

an

account to God

on

judgment day as to how well he functioned according

to

God's

will

as

found

in

Holy Scripture

.We can respect and admire a police force which

is

diligent

in putting down genuine lawlessness. We Christians are,

above anyone, what is commonly called "law and order

men

and women. Murderers and thieves and all other breakers of

legitimate law should be apprehended, tried, convicted and

punished. For the most par t law enforcement is too lenient in

this country. However, the civil magistrate, at least

as

much

as

. everyone else

in

God's world,

is

obligated

to

rule in a

manner consistent with God's law. In the abortion situation,

it

is

th

abortionist who is breaking Go4's l.aw. He is plainly

guilty of murder. The fact that a majority of the seven men on

the Supreme Court declare that abortion

is

acceptable

does

not

change the fact that it is murder. Whatever God says is right is

right and whatever He says is

wrong

is wrong. That's

unequivocal and final. There is

no

room for discussion. The

majority

of

people in America,

or all

people everywhere,

can

think

abortion is optional

(}{

acceptable, but that does not

change the fact that God says it

is

murder, murder s wrong,


4/4

and

murderers shall be judged according

ly. If the judiciary, the police, and the

people of Pensacola, and every other

jurisdiction in this country do not have

the sense to fear the Creator of the uni

verse nor the will to bow

to His rule,

then they

will accept the consequences,

like

it or

not.

In this

case the will

of

God is too

clear to be debated or questioned. Civil

servants must rule according

to

the will

of God. They must put a stop to

abortion. And

i f

they will not do that,

they

must at least stop punishing and

harras

ing

God-fearing people who desire

to obey and please the sovereign God of

the

universe by opposing and seeking

to

stop the atrocious murder of unborn

babies.

Paul Jasper, in his editorial, refers to

the rank and file citizenry

of

Pensacola

as

God-fearing, patriotic citizens.

Poor choice

of words, Mr. Jasper. No

one

who

does not oppose abortion can

be called God-fearing. And

i f

patriotic

now

characterizes Americans who freely

shake their fists in the face of God, the

Creator and Ruler of all things, then

this

country

is

in

sad shape indeed.

As

for those

of us

who re Chris

tians

,

we

are surely under obligation to

fight abortion. It

is

difficult to know

how

God would have us to fight

an

evil

such

as abortion, but we

all

must be

actively and physically involved in

seeking

to

bring a stop

to

abortion in

the

United States.

Until recently when I heard the name

Pensacola I thought

of two things. I

thought

of

the Pensacola Christian

School and College and of the Pensa

cola Theological Institute. The former

is

one of the best known and largest

Christian schools in the world. The

latter is associated with the Mcllwaine

Memorial Presbyterian Church PCA) .

Over the past few decades most of the

outstanding Reformed preachers, teach

ers, scholars and writers have spoken at

the Institute. But,

if

Pensacola Chris

tian

School and College are doing any

thing to

stop abortion, I

am

not aware

of

it, and neither are the pro-life

activists with whom I have contact in

Pensacola. f the Mcllwaine Presby

terian Church or any other PCA church-

es or members

are

doing anything to try

to stop abortion,

I

don't know about

it

and neither do the main pro-life activ

ists in Pensacola.

From now on when

I

think

of

Pensacola, I shall think of apathetic

churches and Christians .

I

shall

think

of

mean spirited, godless judges

and policemen.

I

shall think

of

ungodly

journalists who fly

in

the face of the

God who created all things, who gov

erns all things, and who shall judge all

things on that terrible Day. The people

of Pensacola, of Escambia County, and

of

the state of Florida need

to

rise up

and demand righteous leaders . It is a

shame that people have to come from

all over the country

to

protest ungod

liness because no more than a handful

of Floridians can be found to t ke a

stand.

The sad thing is that Pensacola and

Florida are not that different from other

cities and other states in this once great

and God-fearing country.

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Documents

1987 Issue 1 - Protest in Pensacola - Counsel of Chalcedon