Coalition Life recently spoke with Live Action News about two separate incidents where sidewalk counselors were assaulted or assaulted in Illinois. Brian Westbrook, Executive Director of Coalition Life, said that violence against pro-life advocates has never been this high in the past.
Fairview Heights
In November of 2022, Planned Parenthood abortionist James Hobby intentionally struck a Coalition Life sidewalk counselor with his car. “He was driving down the middle, and he could have driven out into the street — but he didn’t,” Westbrook said. “He made a curve at the very end, straight at our sidewalk counselor. He climbed to his feet, stopped his car, honked at her. And my team member was just like, what the heck is going on here? He stopped his car, just to honk at her, and then went forward, he fell into a ditch.”
Video of the incident can be seen here. The police report, provided to Live Action News, confirmed that Hobby was driving the vehicle, and after reviewing video footage, the responding officer also confirmed that Hobby had intentionally struck the counselor on the sidewalk with his vehicle:
Subaru starts driving to his location and he has a pamphlet, which he hands out to cars as they leave the business. The Subaru driver honked and followed him. The driver who hit him and fell to his knees waved at him.
Flossmoor, Illinois
In January, Coalition Life team members counseled abortion-minded women outside a Planned Parenthood facility. “While they were both working, one of the Planned Parenthood escorts approached and pushed [a female sidewalk counselor],” Westbrook told Live Action News. “First he checked him, and then he almost pushed him to the ground. It was completely unprovoked. He didn’t say anything, yelled at him, anything.”
The police were called to the scene, though they usually try not to involve the authorities.
“We deal with a lot of abuse without police officers,” Westbrook said. “But the police were called. They showed up, the escort lied to the police and said she bumped into him and pushed him, and we showed him the videotape that showed otherwise. The police report says no, you [the escort] obviously there is a culprit here.”
A police report was provided to Live Action News, stating that Paul Noble — the Planned Parenthood escort — was issued a citation for battery. A court date for that case is coming up.
Increase in aggression
Westbrook said that while the group is used to people taking their anger out on them, the violence is something new they’ve experienced since dropping the Roe v. Wade last summer.
“I think the increase is the behavior of people who are aggravated,” he said. “So what I mean is, normally aggravated people just kind of yell and scream and, you know, flip us off. The behavior today is more aggressive, but from the same number of people. An abortionist hitting us with his car? We have honked their horns, yelled at us. This is not the first time, within the last year or so, that several different Planned Parenthood employees will drive by us — and they’re in a hurry — and they’re not paying attention. But we didn’t have any problems or incidents until the last year of actual people touching us.
However, they have been threatened in the past – though those threats never turned to violence. Now, they are taking extra precautions to ensure team members stay safe.
“We’re always there with at least one person,” he said. “That’s number one — there’s always, always an eyewitness. Never go out alone. We have very strict rules about being alone there. Second, we have three video cameras running at any given time. So we have body cameras, two of them you wear, and one sits behind you.”
He added, “… The reason that [Noble] is going to court because we have a video. And maybe the reason he won’t come to us for the next two months is because we caught it on video. So I think it’s a big deal that we’re capturing things on video, and then we’re actively using legal means to make sure there’s no resistance to it. Beyond that, just a lot of prayer. The final thing is, if you ever feel unsafe — even if it’s not logical — but we think it’s unsafe, our team leaves immediately.
Despite the potential risk, Coalition Life still hopes to expand, and bring its life-affirming message to more locations across the country.
“The abortion industry deserves the Christian community to stand up against these abortion facilities,” Westbrook said. “And women who drive deserve options.”
