Kenmore pregnancy clinic vandalized as surge continues across Washington

After a pair of churches were vandalized by what appeared to be pro-abortion activists, a pregnancy center in Kenmore was also hit with similar vandalism. Some of the same messaging, in this case, “abortion isn’t safe, you aren’t either,” was tagged alongside damages to the building.

“We’ve been aware that there’s the possibility of our pregnancy centers being attacked,” said Amelia Graham, an employee of Care Net of Puget Sound Pregnancy Clinic. “And so, early Monday morning, someone did come and they threw a rock through our window at our location. They placed and burned an American flag on our property.”

This follows an incident at a Catholic church in Bellevue last week where two glass doors were smashed with rocks as the walls were spray-painted with messages that read, “woman haters,” “religion of hate,” “lies,” and “sheep.”

“The police have been incredibly helpful, we have nothing but good things to say about them,” Graham said. “We are working with the police in response to this vandalism that we experienced. And we are also very grateful that we do have federal protection as a reproductive health organization.”

Many pro-life clinics across the country have been targeted with vandalism after the Supreme Court’s draft leak overturning Roe v. Wade. A “Crisis Pregnancy Center Map” publishes the exact street address of pro-life clinics, with the stated purpose of the map “to provide location information about all of the crisis pregnancy centers operating in the U.S.”

The website also refers to these clinics as “fake women’s health centers.”

“We don’t know the motives of the person that did commit this crime, but we do believe that this person is misinformed due to lies that have been said about us, such as they are fake clinics, they trick and manipulate women, all of which is not true,” said Graham. “We’ve been here serving our communities for 40 years. And as a nonpolitical organization, we’re going to continue to serve women no matter what happens at the state or the federal level in regards to abortion.”

Democratic lawmakers are warning against so-called “fake clinics,” saying the pregnancy crisis centers use “bait-and-switch” tactics. The centers are accused of showing information about abortion services on their websites, but later redirect women who seek in-person care.

Backlash growing over so-called ‘fake clinics’ as abortion debate peaks

The recently-vandalized pregnancy clinic in Kenmore was on the “fake clinic” list alongside roughly 50 others in the state.

“We are a faith-based organization, so we take it very seriously when scripture commands us to love our enemies and pray for those who seek to do us wrong,” Graham said. “We are simply living that out with our actions and trying to be consistent in how we respond. And we also want to make sure that even as people seek to do us wrong, whether it be vandalizing our centers or speaking mysteries about us online, that we respect and honor and love that person because they are an image bearer of God, and we want to show them that honor even if they choose not to respect us and what we’re doing. We want to respond in love.”

The clinic believes it does not mislead any potential client, as part of its mission statement is to always offer her accurate information.

“We will be upfront and we will tell her we do not provide abortion services or referrals for abortions,” Graham said. “Then we will tell her what we can offer her, which is pregnancy testing, ultrasounds, and basically a pregnancy consultation where we will walk her through all of her options. We won’t pressure her away from a certain choice, but we’ll simply give her information on what all of her choices look like and how we can support her no matter what choice she makes.”

Pregnancy clinic in Lynnwood vandalized with pro-abortion rights messages

Next Step Pregnancy Center was also vandalized in Lynnwood late May, as similar themes of threatening spray-painted messages donned the facility’s walls alongside broken windows. The damages cost approximately $5,000.