Abortion foe punched

The Gazette ^ | Wednesday, November 27, 2002 | Erin Jordan

[toenail]

Abortion foe punched

By Erin Jordan
The Gazette
Wednesday, November 27, 2002, 8:59:24 AM
IOWA CITY -- Donna Holman said her husband, Dan, has been beaten up four times in the last year by people who don't like his anti-abortion preaching outside clinics that offer abortions.

Dan Holman, 55, ended up in the hospital Tuesday after he was assaulted outside the Emma Goldman Clinic for Women by a man who objected to him videotaping people entering the clinic, police said.

The Holmans are from Keokuk. "He preaches repentance and says you will burn in hell if you don't repent. They don't like that here at Emma Goldman," Donna Holman, 67, said.

Bradley Glenn Ewoldt, 20, of Davenport, was charged with assault causing injury after police accused him of punching Holman in the nose just after 9 a.m. Tuesday outside the clinic at 227 N. Dubuque St.

The Holmans, members of a group called the Missionaries for the Unborn, have been in Iowa City for several weeks protesting at both the Emma Goldman Clinic and Planned Parenthood, at 850 Orchard St.

While they stood in front of Emma Goldman on Tuesday with large pictures of aborted fetuses, Dan Holman videotaped four people entering the clinic. He later used the camera to tape Ewoldt when Ewoldt came out of the building to smoke a cigarette, Iowa City police reported.

Ewoldt told Holman twice to stop videotaping, but Holman continued, police said. Ewoldt punched Holman in the face and broke Holman's video camera, police said. Holman said Ewoldt also kicked him. Holman was transported to Mercy Iowa City, where he was treated and released.

Donna Holman said she and her husband usually use the camera to videotape their interaction with police to make sure their right to free speech is not violated. Lt. Sid Jackson said the Holmans have videotaped police officers' actions in the last two weeks.

Emma Goldman Executive Director Karen Kubby said she is concerned because the tactics of anti-abortion protesters, such as the Holmans, are escalating from verbal interaction to videotaping.

"Although the courts have said it (videotaping) is legal, I think it is an invasion in many people's minds," Kubby said. "It does make it very difficult for clients and supporters when they are yelled and screamed at."

Kubby said she has heard of anti-abortion protesters putting videos of people using clinics that offer abortions on the Internet or public-access television. This has not been done at the Emma Goldman Clinic, she said.

All local content copyright © 2002 by The Gazette Company, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

[mumbo]

FYI to all posters on this thread:

I live in Iowa City, and the Karen Kubby mentioned in the article used to be on the City Council. She is a card-carrying Socialist (many times an epithet here at FR, but she REALLY has a card), and is married to an ex-military guy.

Iowa City, speaking as a transplanted South Carolinian, is a very odd place. The town, and county, is very Democrat, even Green, and controlled by a liberal University which dominates the employment picture. But Iowans in general tend to the conservative viewpoint. Tom Harkin shows up about a year before the elections, and is shown on all the local news broadcasts helping out some farmer or other citizen with some issue.

Then the election comes, and the Republican candidate blows up, saying something stupid. It really speaks to the power of incumbency here in Iowa; a lot of inertia once someone is in office. The state is in a big budget crunch, and the Dem governor came into office with a $900 million surplus. He got re-elected, too.

[EternalVigilance]

Emma Goldman Executive Director Karen Kubby said she is concerned because the tactics of anti-abortion protesters, such as the Holmans, are escalating from verbal interaction to videotaping.

Videotaping is 'an escalation'? Well, I guess evil people truly do know deep in their hearts that what they are doing is evil, and therefore really hate it when light is shined on their acts.

It's also telling that they also fear words...if they had their way, pro-life protesters would be silenced.

This was in Iowa City, right?---They don't call it 'the People's Republic of Johnson County' for naught...it's the home of Iowa U., and is the most liberal county in the state.

[Aquinasfan]

"It does make it very difficult for clients and supporters when they are yelled and screamed at."

Ah yes, "clients." Just make sure the "clients" cough up the $350.

[FreeTally]

Well said and I am in 100% agreement.

[jimt]

Burning a flag is just as legal as getting an abortion...

Slight correction here, chief. Nobody dies when a flag is burned. I see a slight difference between a political statement and a child's death.

[Cicero]

Anti-abortion protesters use cameras for the same reason Freepers use cameras at protests. So if there is police brutality, or if someone assaults the protesters, there will be documented evidence as to who is telling the truth.

Given the savage behavior of many pro-aborts and sometimes of the police, and the very large number of assaults against pro-lifers over the years (including people driving up onto sidewalks) a camera is a necessary defensive weapon.

[Marysecretary]

I had that picture on my office door for a long time. It's a great picture. Hope it made some folks think.

[toenail]

See this article, as well.

[Oberon]

I am 6'4'', 220 lbs.....i would love to have one of these hags come at me.

Well, grab your video camera and head to Iowa City, dude. Ain't gonna catch any fish unless your bait's in the water!

[caprock]

The tactics used by these folks, however, help fuel sympathy for the pro-death crowd.

I'm inclined to agree with your position, but the "tactics" here are very benign. The article does not mention any provocative actions beyond the preaching, the videotaping, and the display of pictures. If the protesters' actions were belligerent or obnoxious, that would not help their cause.

No, I do not classify preaching as belligerent or obnoxious even though today's American culture classifies the most minor expression of disagreement as "preaching".

After viewing the "progress" resulting from 30+ years of "freedom" from everything, much PREACHING is in order!

[Malcolm]

But also "the flesh profits nothing." Have you closed one clinic by protesting? Have you extinguished abortion by this method? Will you stop it in this manner??? No, you will have to do so through legislation or court action. And BTW, don't condemn me; you don't know me, nor my motives, and you are certainly not my judge.....

[Zansman]

Maybe you missed the part where I said it is just as LEGAL to get an abortion as it is to burn a flag. My comparison is strictly a LEGAL one as that is (at least in theory)what court decisions are based on: LAW not morality or Scripture.

As far as your statement that nobody dies when a flag is burned; How many do you think have died fighting for that flag? I guarantee there are many Veterans out there that don't see a burning flag, they see the death's of their friends, family, fellow soldiers, etc... being mocked and trivialized in much the same way you see abortion as mocking and trivializing human life and God.

[Zansman]

Your analogy of punching someone if they took your picture leaving a grocery store is somewhat bogus.

Are you saying that leaving a grocery store is just as controversial as leaving an abortion clinic? I would put taking pictures outside of an abortion clinic on par with taking pictures outside of a brothel or topless bar. It's not exactly something you would want anyone to know about thus creating a much greater potential for a volatile environment. If you're the photographer/protester/flag burner, you ought to know what you're doing may incite some people to violence. That doesn't necessarily make it right, that's just how it is.

Now to put a variation on your scenario: say you had been caught boffing the 18 year old cashier at Piggly Wiggly, your wife finds out and says she'll Bobbitt you if you ever go near that place again. Silly you, thinking you can get away with something decide to pay Miss Piggy a visit anyway. As you leave the store, the PI your wife has hired to bust you snaps a photo, in turn you snap and pop the guy in the face (a much more apples to apples analogy). Are you wrong in doing so? Sure. But I'm sure many would understand why you were so upset and lost it and not have too much sympathy for the PI.

Maybe God is giving us one last chance and maybe new Judges will reverse Roe v Wade. But until that happens, last chance or not abortion on demand is the current law and in- your-face confrontational tactics only slow that process down.

[labowski]

"It does make it very difficult for clients and supporters when they are yelled and screamed at."

Pitty, pitty, how difficult does she think it is for the baby that's about to be killed.

[Psalm 73]

Have you closed one clinic by protesting?

We have seen babies saved, and ya' don't get that by sitting home and wishing the world was a nicer place.

And BTW, don't condemn me; you don't know me, nor my motives, and you are certainly not my judge

Boy, a little sensitive, aren't we? Guilty conscience?
After all, I said not one word of condemnation or judgement. Or did I hit a nerve?

[Skooz]

You know, I doubt that anyone would be upset if this guy stood outside their dentist's office and videotaped people going in and out.

Deep down, they know abortion is wrong. Deep down, they know abortion is the killing of a baby. And it infuriates them for anyone to hold up a mirror to them.

[Psalm 73]

It's not exactly something you would want anyone to know about thus creating a much greater potential for a volatile environment. If you're the photographer...you ought to know what you're doing may incite some people to violence.

Woah, If abortion is a legal procedure, like tonsillectomies, what's the problem? If they are feeling some type of shame, it is because they know it is wrong to kill babies, then that is their problem.
And as a conservative and/or libertarian - what about personal responsibility? If you become violent because I took your picture, YOU are the problem, not me. YOU are responsible for your actions, and reactions. You cannot blame your bad behavior on someone else - that would make you a Democrat!

[paltz]

As far as "tactics" are concerned. This is an issue that will truly only be achieved without initial gov't intervention. Let's face it, Pandora's box has been open. However, on a brighter note, as ultrasound technology becomes more advanced, and expectant mothers can see their babies not just from their PC's but from hand held PDA's as well, the idea of having an abortion will become even more unfavored. Think of the abortion debate today as the slavery debate our country dealt with for many years before. While slave owners opposed the federal government intervening with "their property", pro-choicers' today will use the same arguement regarding a woman's body. Early abolotioninsts knew it would take time and patience to change the hearts and minds of the country regarding this issue as it will the abortion issue..so have faith

[Kevin Curry]

I don't know that demonstrating outside of these "clinics" is the best strategy to defeat abortion.

As an sole strategy, no. As one tactic among many, it has its useful place in the scheme of things.

[Chesterbelloc]

>Have you closed one clinic by protesting?


Found these from a quick google search:

http://cjonline.com/stories/051201/kan_neuhaus.shtml

http://www.mdfva.org/2002News/Abortion%20Clinic%20Forced%20Out%20In%20San%20Diego,%20But%20Not%20Going%20Quietly%20%20CNS%205o3L.htm

http://www.dotm.org/yanta.htm