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On The Front Lines

Anti-abortion activist Randall Terry: an exclusive oldSpeak interview

oldSpeak, Online Journal of The Rutherford Institute, Hosts Exclusive Interview with Randall Terry, Controversial Pro-Life Advocate and Founder of Operation Rescue

Charlottesville, Va.
--In recognition of the 30th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade, oldSpeak, an online publication of The Rutherford Institute, this week hosts an exclusive interview with Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, a coalition of pro-life pastors and Christian ministries that staged massive sit-ins at abortion clinics around the U.S. in an effort to save unborn babies from abortion. In his interview with Institute President John W. Whitehead, the controversial pro-life advocate talks about his experiences as founder of Operation Rescue, the current state of the anti-abortion movement, his aspiring musical career and other topics of interest. Terry's oldSpeak interview is available at www.rutherford.org/oldpseak.

Randall Terry founded Operation Rescue in 1987 at a time when the burgeoning pro-life movement was in need of organizing and energizing. In comparing itself to the Civil Rights Movement, which accounted for approximately 7,000 arrests from 1958 to 1968, Operation Rescue, which has proclaimed itself the "largest peaceful civil disobedience movement in American history," points to its more than "70,000 arrests from 1987 to 1994." Terry himself was arrested over 40 times for peaceful opposition to abortion, spending more than one year in various prisons and jails around the country. However, as quickly as the anti-abortion movement gained prominence, it seemed to lose steam, due in large part to government prosecutions of protesters that resulted in both jail time and prison sentences. With the movement in decline, Terry switched his focus and staged an unsuccessful run for Congress in 1998 on a platform described as "no property taxes, no IRS, no social security, no abortion, and no homosexuals." The ensuing years provided even greater challenges for Terry, who was held liable for a number of civil judgments and was forced to declare bankruptcy. His divorce from his wife of almost 20 years succeeded in making him an even greater object of scorn within certain Christian circles. Asked what he would have hoped to accomplish had he not lost his money, home and family, Randall Terry replied, "My goal remains the same-that is, to make child killing in America illegal and, with that momentum, to affect political policy in nations around the world so it is safe to be an unborn child." Sixteen years after starting Operation Rescue, Terry has not abandoned the activism of his youth. In fact, as he shares with John W. Whitehead, he is re-channeling his energies into vastly different arenas. Having remarried in early 2000 and moved to Nashville, Terry has written and recorded two musical albums, with plans to record two more. Terry is also working on two books and hopes to launch his own radio program in the near future.

oldSpeak is dedicated to publishing interviews, articles and commentary on subjects often overlooked by the mainstream media in the areas of politics, arts and culture, law and religion. The Rutherford Institute is an international, nonprofit civil liberties organization committed to defending constitutional and human rights.


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Nisha N. Mohammed
Ph: (434) 978-3888, ext. 604; Pager: 800-946-4646, Pin #: 1478257
Email: Nisha N. Mohammed

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