Pro-Life Factions Battle Each Other in Indiana

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SOUTH BEND, Ind. (ChurchMilitant.com) - A Catholic attorney and pro-life activist is reacting to "establishment persecution" from fellow pro-lifers.

Shawn Sullivan, founder of the Apostolate of Divine Mercy (DM) in South Bend, is defending against claims from Women's Care Center (WCC), a pro-life center, that his apostolate protests in front of abortion mills while mothers are going inside.

Before the March 2016 closing of Women's Pavilion, an abortion mill, WCC objected to Sullivan's group, claiming it "protested" both there and at the Planned Parenthood facility in Mishawaka.

Obviously, that is what he was trying to accomplish. But you wouldn't be able to get any traction at all if these rumors weren't spread beforehand. This was kind of how we were perceived. And Women's Care Center, as Hamann demonstrated, is a source of that kind of rumor-like behavior. Everyone should be doing things their way. We shouldn't be out in the streets; we shouldn't use religious symbols in the streets. We have gotten a lot of flak over that over time.

Hamann argued that WCC and Women's Pavilion "co-existed peacefully" for years before Sullivan opened DM, which Hamann alleged "kind of morphed from that into protests."

"He's just going to have people come there and stand and protest," Hamann told council members prior to Monday's vote. "That doesn't help anyone."

Sullivan emphasized to Church Militant that "we do not appreciate the attacks that we received from them." He also denied Hamann's claim that DM engaged in a bidding war for the property, calling it "fake news."

"Our concern would come from the fact that it really makes it more difficult for us to get volunteers," he continued. "It hurts our standing with the presbyters and the prelates."

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