Posted by
Billy on Friday, August 28, 2009 9:51:28 PM
Years ago, Randall Terry and Troy Newman were brothers in arms in the struggle against legal abortion.
"Troy was my son in the movement," said Terry, 50, a onetime used-car salesman from upstate New York who founded Operation Rescue in 1986. Terry rose to fame leading clinic blockades until lawsuits, jail terms and finally a stunning 1998 legal settlement forced him to abandon his militant tactics, and he faded from the forefront of the struggle.
Newman, meanwhile, was an up-and-coming activist in San Diego and a spokesman for Operation Rescue there. He admired Terry's energy, charisma and rhetoric. "Randall was the first guy to say, 'If abortion is murder, then act like it,' " said Newman, now 43, who became president of Operation Rescue West in 1999. "A lot of us concur that God used him at a certain time for certain projects. For a time."
But today, the two abortion foes are locked in an increasingly nasty battle over ownership of the Operation Rescue name, which Newman trademarked in 2006.
Terry has called his former protege a weasel. Newman has branded Terry a charlatan.
Operation Rescue is a name worth fighting for: Whoever controls it benefits from its unquestionable ability to raise money from those who oppose abortion.
"Why does Troy need my name? What does he get from stealing another man's heritage? Money and media," said Terry in a telephone interview from Falls Church, Va. He moved to the Washington suburb from Florida last year in an effort to reestablish himself as a national leader in the antiabortion fight, which has heated up with Democrats in control of the White House and Congress.
"Operation Rescue is largely a blast from the past, and fairly marginalized in the pro-life movement now," said Marvin Olasky, editor of the World, a generally conservative Christian magazine.
"About 20 years ago, the Operation Rescue activities were probably creating more support for abortion overall, and as the pro-life movement recognized that, the emphasis became one of offering compassionate help to women in a crisis," said Olasky. "The group as a whole, and particularly Randy Terry, never made that leap."
(It is sad when two pro life brothers go to war against one another. I admit I am not a big fan of Mr. Terry or of Operation Rescue. I believe Mr. Terry and O.R. has done harm to the pro life cause and has even done more damage to the Christian faith. I agree with Mr. Olasky far as OR goes. Read more of this
"behind the scenes" take on this fight far as Operation Rescue goes.)