IONIA, Michigan (LifeSiteNews) — A 75-year-old Michigan man has been sentenced to community service for shooting a elderly pro-life woman, which he insisted, “was an accident.”
On May 23, Judge Suzanne Hoseth Kreeger ordered Richard Harvey to serve 100 hours community service and gave him a suspended jail sentence of two months and a delayed sentence of one year on probation for shooting elderly pro-life volunteer Joan Jacobson in September 2022.
Last month, Harvey pleaded no contest to felonious assault, careless discharge of a firearm causing injury, and reckless discharge of a firearm.
“It was an accident,” Harvey claimed of the shooting, despite admitting that he let off a warning shot before shooting Jacobson in the back where the bullet went through her shoulder, very narrowly missing her spine.
In the aftermath of the leak of the Supreme Court majority opinion draft overruling Roe v. Wade, lawless vandals backed by the abortion lobby and pro-abortion politicians have launched riots and violent attacks on pro-life entities across America, from pregnancy centers to churches, and even targeted Justices' homes.
This widespread, organized effort not only sets a dangerous standard for how groups and individuals may opt to stage demonstrations going forward, but begs the question of how the pro-abortion crowd would behave if and when the Supreme Court officially overturns Roe later this summer.
And, worst of all, the White House has largely turned a blind eye to these riots, with Joe Biden -- who at one time claimed to be personally opposed to abortion due to his Catholic faith -- now acting as the foremost advocate for unfettered abortion access in America.
Biden's nonexistent response must be addressed, and the White House needs to know that the American people demand better from their supposed "leader."
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition calling on Joe Biden to stop beating around the bush and finally issue a formal statement condemning the violent riots and attacks on pro-life institutions across our country in the wake of the leaked Supreme Court majority opinion draft overturning Roe v. Wade.
Over Mother's Day weekend, pro-abortion attacks broke out across America, with increasingly depraved activists targeting pregnancy centers, pro-life advocacy organizations, and churches with either disruptive demonstrations or, in some cases, vandalism and outright violence.
Among the most barbaric occurrences was the vicious attack on Wisconsin Family Action, a pro-life group headquartered in Madison, where vandals threw a Molotov cocktail into an office window, started a fire on one of its walls, and left a threatening graffiti message reading "If abortions aren't safe then you aren't either."
Review a FULL LIST of other appalling attacks HERE.
They even descended upon the homes of Supreme Court Justices like Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, and Chief Justice John Roberts, who appear poised to formally issue the final blow to Roe v. Wade in the coming weeks, after publishing a map with their private addresses.
The case, which was decided nearly 50 years ago in 1973, saw members of the bench fabricate a constitutional "right" to abortion, depriving individual states from crafting their own laws to protect life. However, should Roe, as expected, be overturned, the matter of abortion would be returned to the states, where it always belonged, giving lawmakers the ability to propose legislation that would either place strong restrictions on the procedure or, in some cases, ban it outright.
And while, of course, freedom of speech must be protected and defended for all Americans, demonstrations that devolve into vandalism, rioting, the use of intimidation tactics against members of the judiciary (or anyone else, for that matter), or violence in any form must NEVER be tolerated.
But the White House seems to be taking a different approach...
It wasn't until Monday afternoon that Press Secretary Jen Psaki finally acknowledged the threat posed to Supreme Court Justices by out-of-control pro-abotion activists, claiming that "judges perform an incredibly important function in our society, and they must be able to do their jobs without concern for their personal safety."
This is true, but it took Psaki an entire week to make any semblance of a definitive statement about the White House's position on this urgent matter. In fact, Psaki previously refused to discourage the targeting of Justices' homes when asked, insisting that pro-abortion groups were staging "peaceful protests" instead; she even failed to condemn the leak itself -- an unprecedented breach of trust and rejection of institutional norms that could permanently damage the standing of the court and its ability to function as an apolitical body.
And, of course, Joe Biden, himself, has been virtually silent on the matter, failing to effectively speak out against these riots and reassure the American people that those who seek to vandalize property and perpetrate violence will be held legally accountable for their actions by the Department of Justice.
This is entirely unacceptable behavior from a commander-in-chief, and as political allies like Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot (rather ironically) incite insurrection by labeling the Supreme Court's pending decision a "call to arms," the American people must demand that Joe Biden clarify where he stands, and whose side he's really on.
The rule of law must be upheld and applied equally, and that means calling out radical anti-life rioters and ensuring there are consequences for their violent outbursts and destruction of property across the country.
Please SIGN and SHARE this petition calling on Joe Biden to condemn these rioters, and direct the U.S. Department of Justice to take action that will hold them accountable for their actions under the law.
Thank you!
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
'‘Rise up, fight back’: Pro-abortion protesters descend upon Justice Alito’s house over imminent abortion ruling' (LifeSiteNews)
**Photo Credit: Shutterstock
At the time of the incident, Harvey told the local outlet WoodTV that he thought Jacobson was going to hit his wife with a clipboard when she was talking to her about abortion as part of her on-the-ground activism.
“So without thinking, I went to club it away with the rifle and my finger was still in the trigger guard,” he said. “It went off and hit her about in here.”
However, according to Jacobson, she was leaving the property when Harvey shot her in the back.
“When that registered in my mind, I heard a shot, I felt some pain, and I thought he had hit me in the back,” she said. “I was just in shock. I said to myself, ‘Did I just get shot? Did he just shoot me?’”
“I do think that he knew what he was doing,” Jacobson declared. “I think it was intentional.”
Harvey was also ordered to pay $347.19 in restitution and to avoid all contact with Jacobson.
While Harvey received minimal penalties for shooting an elderly woman, pro-life priest Father Fidelis Moscinski and three others were sentenced to jail time for taking part in a Red Rose Rescue in April 2021.
Abortion-related violence against pro-lifers has skyrocketed since the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade last year, with several recent incidents taking place on college campuses.
On May 2, Shellyne Rodriguez, an adjunct assistant professor at Hunter College in New York City, was caught on video harassing two pro-life students before vandalizing their pro-life table.
A few weeks later, Rodriguez was fired after she was caught on video holding a machete to New York Post reporter Reuven Fenton’s neck.
In April, pro-lifers from the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform were showing abortion victim photography at the University of Arizona when pro-abortion students hurled eggs at them.
In March, LifeSiteNews reported that two activists faced felony charges after being accused of robbing a pro-lifer and resisting arrest by attacking a police officer during a pro-life event at the University of Florida.
Similarly, during a recent speech by Students for Life of America president Kristan Hawkins at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), Antifa members with messages of “Black Lives Matter” and “Transgender Power” broke out in violent protest. Two arrests have been made in connection with the attack.