Article By Sarah Neely
Operation Rescue and Life Legal Defense Foundation recently traveled to Colorado for our #JusticeForLexi Campaign, a three-day event of education and activism exposing the death of 18-year-old Lexi Arguello at the hands of Planned Parenthood.
Every event was peaceful and prayerful, and the campaign received coverage from national and local news outlet. One reporter from the Colorado Times Recorder attended every event and wrote a lengthy article. Unfortunately, he chose to focus on a false narrative that attempted to tie Operation Rescue to violent incidents this organization has never endorsed or participated in. In reply, LLDF and OR offered the following letter to reporter Sean Beedle and his editor:
Dear Editor:
In an article dated September 2, 2026, entitled “Kansas Group Linked to Abortion Clinic Violence Protests in Colorado,” the author, Sean Beedle, devoted a substantial portion to discussing Operation Rescue’s “alleged ties to multiple violent incidents.” We are writing to correct the record, as the article fails to distinguish between the conduct of particular individuals and disputed allegations for which Operation Rescue bears no responsibility.
Moreover, the article conflates activities under the broad banner of Operation Rescue as a decentralized movement with Operation Rescue as an organization led by Troy Newman since 1999, which has consistently and explicitly denounced violence in any form as a means of ending abortion. On July 16, 2025, the Secretary of the Army, speaking for himself and the Secretary of Defense, apologized for mischaracterizing Operation Rescue as a terrorist organization. The letter stated that the label was “not only inaccurate but also deeply inappropriate.” https://www.operationrescue.org/army-apologies-for-harm-done-by-mischaracterizing-operationrescue-as-a-terrorist-organization/
The article’s attempt to connect Operation Rescue to violence against abortion clinics is simply inaccurate. The shooter at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood in 2015 was a loner with no ties to Operation Rescue. Likewise, the allegations made by Scott Roeder, who murdered George Tiller, were fabricated and never resulted in any charges against Troy Newman or Operation Rescue. Moreover, the article also reaches back nearly forty years to Cheryl Sullenger’s criminal conviction in 1987. She later expressed remorse for her conduct and repudiated violence as a response to abortion. She began serving as Senior Vice President of Operation Rescue in 2003, sixteen years after her conviction and renunciation of violence. She retired in 2022. https://www.operationrescue.org/meet-the-team/.
Including these references in the article seems to be a misguided attempt to establish guilt by association. The underlying logic is that if one person who professed to be pro-life became violent, all pro-life individuals are potentially violent. The piece dragged up decades’ old instances of nonviolent civil disobedience to try to buttress its claim that Operation Rescue, and by implication, all pro-life individuals, are capable of violence. Nonviolent civil disobedience has a long and honorable history as a form of protest against injustice, even when participants knowingly accept legal consequences for their actions. Peaceful political protest lies at the heart of the First Amendment.
Mr. Beedle is conspicuously silent as to the very recent numerous violent attacks on pro-life resource centers since the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. CatholicVote has documented that at least ninety-six pro-life pregnancy resource centers and groups have been attacked and vandalized since the draft of the Dobbs opinion was leaked in May 2022. https://catholicvote.org/pregnancy-center-attack-tracker/. A group called Jane’s Revenge has claimed responsibility for many of these attacks. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/letter-abortion-group-janes-revenge-open-season-pro-life-pregnancy-centers
Three Florida residents, members of this group, have pled guilty to conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate employees of pregnancy resource centers. https://www.justice.gov/usao-mdfl/pr/three-defendants-plead-guilty-civil-rights-conspiracy-targeting-pregnancy-resource.
Information regarding the violent targeting of pro-life groups is freely available on the internet, so there is no valid reason for ignoring these facts and printing such a one-sided piece.
We respectfully request that the Colorado Times Recorder correct the record regarding Operation Rescue’s “alleged ties” to violence and clarify that the organization has been cleared of the “terrorist” smear. We also request that the Recorder report instances of violence against pro-life groups and clinics to provide a more balanced perspective on violence surrounding abortion.
Sincerely,
Alexandra Snyder
CEO, Life Legal Defense Foundation
Troy Newman
President, Operation Rescue
Be the first to comment