Pregnancy Center in Arizona Severely Burned in Apparent Arson Attack

Whiteriver, AZ. -- The Whiteriver Clinic, a pregnancy center and member of the Living Hope Women's Center group, in rural eastern Arizona, was severely burned in what appears to be an arson attack. The center serves a predominantly native American population and received 400-600 visits every month from the low-income individuals in the community, of which 2/3 of the visits were for the Earn While You Learn program. Read the rest here and here.

Why would anyone seek to damage this center when they provide beneficial community services such as their Fatherhood and Mommy Stores [part of the Earn While You Learn program] in which low-income residents earn the ability to "purchase" critically needed pregnancy and parenting items (such as maternity clothes, baby/toddler clothing, seasonal clothing, diapers, hygiene items, baby formula and bottles, crib sheets and blankets, and more) by attending classes which teach parenting and life skills. There is political opposition to pregnancy resource centers by pro-choice groups, but opposing these centers, who's primary services, include support programs for pregnant and parenting women, seems the anti-thesis of choice and removing these programs does a disservice the clients served and the community. You can help the center rebuild with a donation to Living Hope Women's Centers, 1000 E. Huning St., Show Low, AZ 85901
 
Unfortuantly, this is not the first case of arson, vandalism, or bomb threats at a pregnancy resource center. In July of 2009, a pregnancy center is Eugene, OR, was vandalized with spray-painted phrases "kill us now", "give us your eggs", "freedom", and a swastika on the windows at the front of the pregnancy center. In September of 2008, an arson fire caused total loss at Pregnancy Alternatives Center in Lebanon, Oregon. Also, according the Catholic Sentinel article, in 1999 bomb threats were called in to a California pregnancy center and others were vandalized with graffiti, messages included ``Abortion is a Right'' and ``Lies Told Here.'' and the building was also pasted with flyers for local pro-choice clinics and an epoxy-like substance was smeared over door locks, source: San Francisco Chronicle, 1/23/99. A Canadian center in Winnipeg was covered with graffiti in 2001. In 2004, two Maryland pregnancy centers were vandalized, with smashed windows and computers. In 2005, on the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, another Maryland center was hit with smashed windows and graffiti that said “Choice” and “Womyn Haters.” When a ban on abortions was debated in South Dakota in 2006, the homes of pregnancy center directors were vandalized  with eggs, they received threatening phone calls, and the bodies of decomposing animals were left near their workplace. Terry Weaver, executive director of Birthright, recalls bomb threats at the organization’s Atlanta house. She hears about vandalism regularly from Birthright houses around the country — splattered paint, shot-out windows, dog feces in mailboxes. Sometimes, pro-choice activists call the Birthright hotline to heckle the organization.