20th anniversary of the Summer of Mercy
Have you heard of the Summer of Mercy?
The Summer of Mercy was a huge, dramatic, pro-life prayer/protest vigil numbering up to 50,000 pro-lifers and staged at 3 Wichita, Kansas, abortion mills for 6 weeks in July and August exactly 20 years ago, in 1991. There were 5,000 arrests.
Seventeen years later, in 2008, the Summer of Mercy’s influence was still felt in mainstream circles, PBS calling it “a watershed moment in the social history of America.”
But do you know anything about it?
When I became involved in the pro-life movement 12 years ago I heard passing references to the Summer of Mercy but had no idea of its magnitude until shown a video produced by the Bott Network.
Until this week that video – in fact, no video portraying the Summer of Mercy – was captured for posterity online. Thanks to Troy Newman of Operation Rescue for making that happen. The video is 30 minutes long and fairly low quality, but it is well worth your time investment.
In the video you’ll spot many faces of historical significance to the pro-life movement – Pastor Flip Benham, Rev. Pat Mahoney, Rev. Pat Robertson, Randall Terry, Keith Tucci, and more. You’ll see 84 Wichita pastors and priests banding together and risking arrest for the sake of the babies. You’ll see Tucci arrested by a US Marshall inside a radio studio while on the air. And you’ll see a stadium filled with 40,000 pro-lifers, praying to end abortion….
At the aforementioned rally on August 25, 1991, Robertson declared, “Today marks the turning point.” Who would have thought 20 years later America would still be aborting over 1 million babies a year?
Yet much has changed.
Due to the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, signed into law by President Clinton in 1994, blockade-style abortion mill protests are no longer conducted. (Pro-lifers are much more effective when not incarcerated.) Pro-life tactics have changed in numerous ways. Now OR seeks to hang abortion mills by their own petard – working to close them because they’re filthy, creepy, and not particularly bound by the law.
Late-term abortionist George Tiller, much the focus of the Summer of Mercy, was murdered in 2009.
Today Wichita is abortion-free. One of the clinics protested in 1991 is now home to OR (photo right). One of the people arrested during the Summer of Mercy, Tim Huelskamp, is now a Kansas congressman.
We are no longer reliant on the liberal media to tell our side of the story. As seen in the video, pro-lifers in 1991 were forced to beg MSM to tell the truth. No more.
The times are changing organically. Abortions, while still high, have slowed. Americans are much more educated on abortion. The vast majority don’t like it and at best consider it a necessary evil. New laws not even dreamed of in 1991 are also slowing the abortion process down.
Read more on the Summer of Mercy in this New York Times piece from that time.
[Top photo via The Wichita Eagle; 2nd photo via the Associated Press; bottom photo via Operation Rescue]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
Wow, I had never heard this story at all. Thanks for posting it!
Man 1991 was the year i was born when this great event happened!!!
This event gave rise to threats against abortion providers and employees in Wichita and two years later all abortion clinics in Wichita closed due to terrorist threats and intimidation except for one so in 1993 the last doctor “Dr. Tiller” was shot twice by a Christian woman. He survived for a few more years before he was shot and killed in his church on a Sunday…
What has happened in Wichita is criminal and nothing to be celebrated.
Wichita is still abortion provider free and through no vote or anything democratic like that but through fear and terrorist threats.
How American…
Biggz, Terrorist threats and intimidation are not OK, but pro-life leaders and spokesmen (spokespersons?) are often the target of violent rhetoric as well. I don’t see anyone from the pro-choice side condemning that behavior.
It’s a free country. Any abortion provider could set up shop in Wichita if they wanted. Just like any pro-lifer has the right to peacefully protest. Though their right to free speech is often infringed upon, as we see in the video.
C.J.– this happened the year after I was born. It is incredible to think brave pro-life activists were out there desperately fighting for OUR rights a couple decades ago. Now it is our turn to fight for other people’s rights!!
I thought I was pretty knowledgeable, but I have to admit that until this moment I had never heard of the Summer of Mercy. It’s a great idea!
Thank you for this, Jill!! I never new this story either!!
Wichita abortion free? I like the sound of that.
Bigz – what exactly was criminal? What exactly was terroristic? What was illegal? Please explain.
Biggz said, “Wichita is still abortion provider free and through no vote or anything democratic….”
Sort of like how abortion was made legal nationwide through no vote or anything democratic, huh? Sort of like how the unborn are daily killed though no vote or anything democratic, huh?
I totally remember the summer of mercy and how it so much inspired me!!! I was not yet an active pro-lifer and what I saw on the news helped me make my step in the spring of 92 into the rescue movement and direct pro-life action.