Vandals Target Anti-Abortionist

By Anna Deem in News on Dec 5, 2010 7:30PM

Bricks were thrown into the home of longtime anti-abortion activist Joseph Scheidler early Thursday morning, smashing his windows and leaving behind an angry note. Scheidler, who heads the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League, confirmed that the bricks broke the dining room and living room windows of his North Leroy Avenue home. Although he and his wife, Ann, heard noises around 2 a.m., they did not discover the damage until they woke up later that morning.

"We're used to vandalism, but we'd never had anything like this," said Ann Scheidler, vice president of the Action League, to the Chicago Sun-Times. She explained that their home's garage and porch had been spray-painted in the past. The note was filled with profanity and mentioned that the author will "destroy your sexist ideas" and "I've had an abortion and no laws could ever stop me," however, police have said that there is no indication it was a hate crime. They are investigating it as a criminal damage to property report. Scheidler believes it is more than that. "It is ironic that the same group of people who accuse us of intimidation and violence are engaging in that same behavior," Ann Scheidler said to the Sun-Times.