Operation Rescue/Operation Save America



Operation Rescue/Operation Save America is a Christian pro-life organization, founded in the United States by Randall Terry in 1986 as Operation Rescue. It is based in Concord, North Carolina. It promotes an anti-abortion agenda by conducting mass protests at abortion clinics. It is a large civil-disobedience organization, but over the years there has been violence at some of their protests. It continued to grow into the early 1990s, targeting clinics across the country. Operation Rescue gained attention during the 1988 Democratic Convention in Atlanta, Georgia, where hundreds of arrests for demonstrations took place.

Operation Rescue
The group's first office was closed due to bankruptcy after a Federal judge levied fines of $60,000 against Operation Rescue and Project Rescue in Washington for violating permanent injunctions prohibiting them from blocking access to abortion clinics.

More than 40,000 people were arrested in Operation Save America demonstrations over the first four years of its existence as Operation Rescue. With new leadership, these arrest rates have gone down. Two events associated with drop in arrest rates were the passage of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and the exit of Terry from OR's leadership. Operation Rescue's biggest public relations coup was when Buffalo, New York mayor Jimmy Griffin invited them in to protest during the "Spring of Life" in 1993. The invitation caused riots, largely sparked by out-of-area protesters bused into the Buffalo area by both pro-life and pro-choice groups. The crisis and financial hardship that the city endured because of the incidents was believed to have brought down Griffin's administration later that year.

On August 10, 1995, Norma McCorvey -- who was "Jane Roe" in the 1973 Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision -- announced that she was a member of Operation Rescue, and had converted to Christianity as a result of having repeated contact with Operation Rescue since she worked near its headquarters office.

The organization has been involved in a lawsuit with the National Organization for Women and several abortion clinics since 1988. The suit alleged violations of the RICO (anti-racketeering) laws. Those contentions were rejected by the Supreme Court of the United States. See NOW v. Scheidler.

Kansas protests
Operation Rescue's ministry gained attention again in 1991 during the &ldquo;Summer of Mercy&rdquo; in Wichita, Kansas. Thousands of pro-life protesters flocked to Wichita and were arrested at sit-ins (known as &ldquo;rescues&rdquo;), at a late-term abortion clinic owned and operated by George R. Tiller, and what was then known as Wichita Family Planning, where a large &ldquo;rescue&rdquo; involving members of the clergy took place. The event lasted six weeks. An attempt at a similar success happened in 1993 when Buffalo mayor Jimmy Griffin invited Operation Rescue for the so-called &ldquo;Spring of Life.&rdquo; Thousands of out-of-area prostesters on both sides of the argument descended on Buffalo and Amherst causing massive riots and severe financial distress because of the additional security necessary to control the often out-of-hand protesters.

Independent Operation Rescue organizations cropped up around the country during these early years, the most successful of which was the California organization, Operation Rescue West, founded by OR&rsquo;s national tactical director, Jeff White, and now run by Troy Newman out of Wichita, Kansas.

Randall Terry stepped down from Operation Rescue in 1989. Keith Tucci then led the national organization through the 1991 Summer of Mercy then was replaced by Philip &ldquo;Flip&rdquo; Benham. In 1997, Benham changed the name of Operation Rescue National to &ldquo;Operation Save America,&rdquo; and broadened the scope of the organization to include issues surrounding homosexuality, pornography, and Islam. Benham also renounced the use of deadly violence and formed alliances with Christian conservative groups and the Constitution Party.

Operation Rescue/Operation Save America
In 1999, current leader Flip Benham abandoned the name of Operation Rescue and changed the name of his organization to Operation Save America. Once Newman's organization began to grow in prominence and use the name, Benham also began using it, but after a feud with Newman, now refers to his group as "Operation Save America, Formerly Operation Rescue".

Operation Save America has mobilized its members for other causes common to the Christian right, for example, opposition to Gay-Straight Alliances in public schools. At South Rowan High School, near Charlotte, NC, when a Gay-Straight Alliance was forming at that school, Operation Save America arranged to have some 700 people to show up at the school board meeting and get the board to ban the club from the school. Critics contend that in so doing, the school board violated the Equal Access Act which is the same act that protects the right of prayer groups and bible clubs to form in public schools.

They have also been involved in burning the Islamic holy text, the Qur'an, despite the opposition of some in the Muslim community to the practice of abortion. Their actions have been described as "an affront to Islam, all people of faith, and to our society as a whole... not christian [and] not American" by the Mississippi Religious Leadership Conference.

The group operates a fleet of what it refers to as &ldquo;Truth Trucks,&rdquo; large panel vehicles that bear images of aborted fetuses. These &ldquo;Truth Trucks&rdquo; travel around the nation showing what Operation Rescue describes as &ldquo;grisly truth about abortion.&rdquo; Such images are often criticized as intentionally shocking and insensitive given how sensitive an issue abortion often is.

In June 2006, Operation Rescue bought the building housing Wichita’s smaller abortion clinic, Central Women’s Services, (once known as Wichita Family Planning), after the business had been purchased by Dr. George Tiller. Dr. Tiller was cleared of any charges of medical neglect in the death of Christin Gilbert. The group claims to have contributed to a 16% drop in abortions in Kansas over a three year period, however this is not substantiated by any data.

In September 2006, Newman and pro-life activist Keith Mason showed up at an open-air gubernatorial debate dressed as cockroaches, protesting alleged unsanitary conditions at Tiller's clinic. Democratic State Rep. Vaughn Flora (Topeka) recognized Newman, tore his mask off, and was arrested for battery. Flora was fined $100 in return for a nolo plea. Newman later launched a $75,000 lawsuit against Flora which was dismissed as frivolous.

Later that year, Operation Rescue lost its tax-exempt status following charges of improper use of contributions, and illegal endorsements of political candidates, and is currently under investigation on charges of money laundering and tax evasion.

Current activities include working on mobilizing support in the Kansas State Legislature to order the newly-elected Attorney General, Democrat Paul Morrison, to reinstate misdemeanor charges that were dismissed on jurisdictional grounds against Dr. Tiller. The group plans a rally in front of the offices of ADA Nora Foulston in May, where they will present evidence of mass murder against Tiller.

A video of a woman screaming at an Operation Save America protester was aired on a third season episode of Web Junk 20.

On July 12, 2007, three members of the organization tried to shout down a Hindu clergyman, Rajan Zed, as he offered the traditional morning prayer on the US Senate floor. The protesters denounced the prayer as an "act of abomination" and "gross idolatry". The protesters were arrested for disrupting congress and taken away, and the prayer resumed. The protest was denounced by Barry W. Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State.