A California-based crisis pregnancy center hired security after a man showed up at its doors armed with a machete, the center’s president revealed in testimony to the Senate Judiciary Committee Tuesday.
Alternatives Pregnancy Center has taken increased safety measures to respond to this and other threats of violence the clinic has received, including arming staff members and shutting down its mobile clinic, according to testimony from the center’s president, Heidi Matzke.
“Just last week … a man approached our care center with an armed machete. We have been forced to hire 24-7 on-site security. We’ve had to reinforce doors and bulletproof our walls,” she said.
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“We’ve added cameras, armed our staff with pepper spray and stopped running our mobile clinic because of threats of violence. We have been forced to expend valuable resources, resources for women, of up to $150,000 just to protect ourselves,” she said.
Her testimony was part of a hearing on the consequences of the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade, which ended a 50-year precedent that had blocked abortion restrictions throughout the first six months of pregnancy. (RELATED: NBC News Joins The Fight Against Crisis Pregnancy Centers)
Crisis pregnancy centers have been targeted for threats and violent attacks as well as threats from elected officials who view the centers as promoting misinformation about pregnancy and abortion.
A crisis pregnancy center was firebombed June 7, and numerous other clinics have been spray-painted with threats and had their windows shattered.
Alternatives Pregnancy Center did not respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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