Pro-lifer assaulted at Florida abortion facility claims workers hid assailant from police

Florida pro-lifers have accused a late-term abortion facility of lying to police and harboring a person who assaulted a sidewalk counselor. The incident occurred outside the Orlando Women’s Center, owned by disgraced abortionist, James Scott Pendergraft. Amber, who asked that her last name not be made public, told Live Action News that although she was upset about the assault, what the abortion facility did afterward was even more outrageous.

On November 20th, Amber was outside the facility with another sidewalk counselor because the facility routinely performed abortions on Sundays. Women who go to this facility are usually there to abort their babies, reported Amber, and are sometimes very far along in their pregnancies. Amber said that on the day of the assault, she approached the patient like she does many of the women who come to that clinic, by asking her to “not do this” — meaning not to get an abortion.

Amber said that as soon as the words left her mouth, the patient became aggressive and proceeded to hit her on her head, then pulled Amber’s hair so hard that the assailant had parts of it in her hands. Thankfully, the other sidewalk counselor saw what was taking place and ran to Amber’s assistance, but only began to record the incident after Amber managed to pull herself loose from the alleged assailant’s grip.

An exchange between the three women, caught on film and provided to Live Action News, indicates that the patient was angry because the pro-lifers had assumed that she was going to the late-term facility for an abortion. After the altercation, the video footage shows the patient repeatedly telling the pro-life counselors that she was not having an abortion. Amber said that despite the assault, she felt a lot of compassion for the woman, who became visibly upset as she explained to them that she was only there to get a sonogram.

Amber said the patient who allegedly attacked her had previously been seen visiting the late-term facility when another pro-life counselor was outside. Amber told Live Action News that she forgives the woman for her actions, but says “the issue needs to be pursued because of what the abortion clinic did.” According to Amber, the facility “lied, hid her [the alleged assailant], and they helped her get away.”

Amber said the Orlando Police Department was called as soon as the assault took place, and officers responded rather quickly with several police cars to the scene. By that time, the clinic’s security guard — known to the pro-lifers by the name “Kerry” — had escorted the patient inside the facility.  After police took Amber’s statement as well as the statement of the other pro-life sidewalk counselor present, the police reportedly went inside to try and identify the assailant based off the pictures the pro-life women had shown them.

When police returned, Amber said that she and the other counselor were told that although police did not search the entire building, the woman was not inside. Amber assured police that she had to be inside because the sidewalk counselors had watched both exits and never saw her leave. Though there are a number of security cameras on the property, the abortion facility’s security guard alleged that the cameras had not been working for some time. Police assured Amber that there would be an investigation, but claimed that they could not search further because of HIPAA laws. Police then left the facility.

Approximately 30 minutes later, Amber said she saw the alleged assailant leave the facility under protective cover of the security guard. “I’ve got pictures of Kerry escorting her in and I have pictures of him escorting her out,” she stated.

While Live Action News cannot verify what abortion facility staff told the police when they went inside to look for the assailant, it is clear that if staffers knowingly lied to the officers, then it was a violation of Florida law, which states that “a person who knowingly gives false information to a law enforcement officer concerning the alleged commission of any crime, commits a misdemeanor of the first degree.”

According to Amber, after police left the scene, the abortion facility went to extreme efforts to conceal the woman’s exit of the facility from anyone’s view.  To do this, an employee drove a van to the back parking lot and backed it against a wall (accidentally hitting the wall), at an angle that would block the back door from view. Shortly thereafter, a truck pulled into the parking lot and Amber said that they witnessed the security guard escort the alleged assailant to the truck, which quickly drove off. Despite the facility employees’ efforts to conceal who was exiting the facility, Amber managed to get a photo (seen below), which she has turned over to the police.

Orlando Women’s Center’s owner, James Scott Pendergraft, operates five abortion clinics in the state. Last year Pendergraft was arrested for possession of drugs after being stopped for speeding in South Carolina. As Live Action News previously reported, at the time of his arrest, Pendergraft was also found to have in his possession surgical implements that were covered in blood and human tissue from abortions he had illegally performed throughout South Carolina. Despite having his medical license revoked at the time, Pendergraft was only charged with being in the possession of illegal narcotics. In June of this year, he was indicted by a grand jury on a total of six drug-related charges, including what appears to be possession of LSD, according to a report published by Operation Rescue.

Amber says that though she was very shaken up by this ordeal, her injuries appear to be minor. She said that she has given the police all the details of what took place and trusts that the investigation will be thorough.