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Policeman Confiscates Rockford Pro-Lifer's Christ Image

By Kathleen Gilbert

ROCKFORD, Illinois, October 12, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Another bizarre happening at the Northern Illinois Women's Center in Rockford, Illinois was reported last week, with one area pro-lifer saying that a policeman confiscated his large sign portraying an image of Jesus - though the same officer declined to remove an obscene image of Christ perched in the abortion facility's window.

The Northern Illinois Women's Center is notorious as the site of routine abuses against the community of pro-lifers who keep vigil there and for the grotesque and often blasphemous displays in the windows of the building. 

Veteran Rockford pro-life witness Kevin Rilott told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) last week that the latest incident occurred Wednesday morning as he stood on public property in front of the abortion mill with a large image of Christ.  According to Rilott, the confrontation began when the abortuary's security officer ordered Rilott to move.

"I have stood here for over ten years, so I kept praying," said Rilott.

Rilott says the security officer then came out and spoke with a police officer, who approached Rilott to tell him to hold the Christ sign that was propped up about two feet away.  When Rilott declined, he says the police officer ordered him to turn off his video camera before calling a supervisor.  The supervisor arrived within minutes to confiscate the Christ image, saying the sign was "unattended." 

Rilott notes that one week earlier, when asked by pro-lifers to enforce removal of an obscene image of Christ in the abortion center's window under Rockford's ordinance against "offensive use of property," the same supervisor denied that the image was offensive.

"All of the violations, threats, vandalism, intimidation, and attacks of the abortion facility in the past few years and we are not aware of one time the abortion facility has been held accountable," said Rilott.  "But in Rockford a simple picture of Jesus gets arrested and thrown in the back of a squad car."
 
As of Monday afternoon, the sign was still in police custody.

Rilott recalled that in August 2007, while being assaulted by an abortion supporter, it took a police officer 20 minutes to respond to his 911 calls.  And then, in a more recent incident, when pro-lifer Eric Nelson was being verbally assaulted in a racial tirade by pro-abortion local Keith Sterkerson, who had a pitbull in tow at the time, police responded after over an hour.  

"It would be funny if it wasn't so sad," commented Rockford pro-lifer George Lambert. 

"In Rockford they arrest a picture of Jesus because it symbolizes truth and life. It's interesting that the picture of Jesus giving a double fisted f*** you sign is still proudly displayed in the clinic window," he added.

"We have gone from the blasphemous to the ridiculous," said pro-lifer Donna Modica.  "It seems the only signs and pictures protected by free speech are the ones mocking God."

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

Pro-Lifers Publish Video of Morbid, Mocking Displays in Rockford Abortion Mill

 Abortion Employee Runs into Pro-Lifer, Keeps Going at Bizarre Rockford Abortuary

Life Saved in Rockford because of Grotesque Display in Abortion Facility Window 

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