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Pro-life Women Jailed for Having Begged an Abortionist to Quit a Decade Ago...
Life Site News -- Your Life, Family, and Culture Outpost ^ | Friday January 4, 2008

Posted on 01/04/2008 4:33:56 PM PST by topher

Pro-life Women Jailed for Having Begged an Abortionist to Quit a Decade Ago

One faces five months in jail while another has been sentenced to serve eight months behind bars.

LINCOLN, Nebraska, January 4, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Pro-life activists Shari McKee and Melissa Abbink were jailed on December 28th, 2007, for speaking to Lincoln abortionist Winston Crabb on two occasions in front of his home 10 years ago. Abbink faces five months in jail while McKee has been sentenced to serve eight months behind bars.

According to Operation Rescue, in February, 1998, both were charged with violating the "focused picketing" ordinance even though neither had signs and both incidents lasted only a minute each. "Just long enough," said OR, "to plead for the lives of pre- born children as he walked from his car to his house."

After exhausting the appeals of the criminal cases, the convictions were upheld by the Nebraska Supreme Court on September 10, 1999. However, for reasons unknown, the mandate did not come down until September 28, 2005, over 6 years later.

The last two years have been spent seeking a commutation. The women's cases were brought before the Board of Pardons, which was very sympathetic, but refused to act because the Board does not review misdemeanor cases. The Board referred the cases to the Mayor of Lincoln, who has refused to act claiming he does not have the authority to grant commutations.

According to the women's attorneys, the Mayor clearly does have the authority to commute misdemeanor sentences.

"We are asking pro-lifers to write to Mayor Beutler and ask him to commute the sentences of these two women," said Larry Donlan, Director of Rescue the Heartland. "Be sure to point out that the Pardon Board says he has the authority to do so. Be polite and remember, it is a commutation that we are after, not a pardon. Like the parable of the widow, we are seeking justice for these two brave, God-fearing women. Only Mayor Beutler has that ability to grant that justice. He can do so by merely picking up the phone."

Mayor Chris Beutler 555 South 10th, 2nd Floor Rm 208, Lincoln, NE 68508 Fax: 402-441-7120 E-mail: mayor@lincoln.ne.gov

The women in two separate facilities may be contacted by mail:

Melissa Abbink 4420 NW 41st Lincoln, NE 68524

Sharon McKee 1125 E. 17th St. Columbus, NE 68601

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TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Nebraska
KEYWORDS: 1stamendment; abortion; abortionist; freedomofspeech; outrage; prolife; stalking
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To: Neidermeyer
OK ,,, how did 60 days each turn into 5 months and 8 months?

My only guess is that either they were subject to additional prosecution in the interim, or there were penalties involved for not acting in a timely manner to report to jail.

41 posted on 01/04/2008 7:16:45 PM PST by kingu (Fred08 - The Constitution is the value I'm voting for. What value are you voting for?)
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To: kingu
"Would you support anti-war activists camping out in front of people’s homes across the country to shout down our soldiers? Their kids? How about illegal alien supporters camping out in front of Minutemen homes? Following them around in their cars?"

LOL Too funny! You and I both know unpatriotic idiots like that wouldn't last 5 minutes in 95% of the towns in America. Better think of a better comparison.

42 posted on 01/04/2008 7:25:21 PM PST by moonman
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To: kingu

Well, the baby killer’s son WAS out in public. (He could not have been legally nude then, could he?) No, he did not have to listen, and could have gone inside. The 2 ladies did apologize when they realized their identification error. Still, if is saves ONE baby’s life,...isn’t it worth it?


43 posted on 01/04/2008 7:37:13 PM PST by 2harddrive (...House a TOTAL Loss.....)
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To: 2harddrive
Last I checked, that was private property.

Still, if is saves ONE baby’s life,...isn’t it worth it?

So then shoot the doctor. After all, if that's the overriding justification for intimidating people in their own homes, why stop at shouting? Why not just kill them? You'd be saving at least one baby's life.

44 posted on 01/04/2008 7:46:38 PM PST by kingu (Fred08 - The Constitution is the value I'm voting for. What value are you voting for?)
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To: kingu
On February 6 ... at approximately 7:05 a.m., Melissa Abbink and Sharon McKee approached ... from the north, walking in a southerly direction on the sidewalk adjacent ... began to yell at Crabb's son ... When Abbink and McKee ... acknowledged their mistake ... they were approximately 50 to 55 feet from the front step of the Crabb residence. Thanks for finding and posting that. I picked out parts of the paragraph to suggest that the two women apparently approached Crabb's home in low-light conditions such that they could not distinguish one male from another until they were 50-55 feet away. Didn't prevent them from presenting themselves as some kind of foe to a person on the property, though. Assuming similar visual acuity for the Crabbs, I can easily understand a bunker mentality on their part. That would creep me out, and being pursued as the sun climbs 25 minutes higher in the sky would not improve my perception of the interlopers.
45 posted on 01/04/2008 7:55:55 PM PST by Titan Magroyne ("Shorn, dumb and bleating is no way to go through life, son." Yeah, close enough.)
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To: topher

wow. so much for amendment one in this country


46 posted on 01/04/2008 9:00:46 PM PST by GeronL
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To: redpoll
...These women are not charged with speaking to an abortionist. They’re charged with bothering him on his property while he’s walking into his house...

OK, so that's worth 8 months in jail, eh?

47 posted on 01/04/2008 10:19:34 PM PST by the invisib1e hand (whose spirit is hillary channelling these days?)
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To: topher

save


48 posted on 01/04/2008 11:08:31 PM PST by Eagles6
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To: topher

effin ridiculous


49 posted on 01/04/2008 11:10:25 PM PST by wardaddy (Huckabee is dancing on Thompson's card)
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To: trumandogz
Okay, but do you believe the Phelps people should be permitted to stand on the sidewalk outside the home of a dead US service member and ask the family questions about what their son/husband/father died for?

There have been folks willing to follow the Phelps gang around with paintball guns...

I guess if they show up there (in front of the homes of someone who died in Iraq/Afghanistan, they might get painted...

The more I think about it, paintballs is a form of Freedom of Expression, but it has the problem of damaging property. By the same token, the emotional damage done by the Phelps can be heard in a Civil Court.

Remember that O.J. Simpson was convicted in a Civil Court, where there was less burden of proof.

Now I might say that the Phelps IRS dodgers may have the right of Freedom of Expression, but if this results in emotional injury, then they should filed with a Civil Suit (or many, many Civil Suits)...

50 posted on 01/05/2008 7:12:03 AM PST by topher (Let us return to old-fashioned morality - morality that has stood the test of time...)
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To: trumandogz
Okay, but do you believe the Phelps people should be permitted to stand on the sidewalk outside the home of a dead US service member and ask the family questions about what their son/husband/father died for?

A shorter reply:

During the Vietnam War, apparently protestors did this with parents of servicemen who were lost.

The movie Hamburger Hill tells one such instance. That was why one person re-upped for Vietnam...

What they described in movie Hamburger Hill was probably much sicker than the Phelps gangs acts...

51 posted on 01/05/2008 7:14:37 AM PST by topher (Let us return to old-fashioned morality - morality that has stood the test of time...)
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To: kingu
The research you have done is probably better than that done by LifeSite News...

You are to be commended for your research... Seems if LifeSite News is to continue to have credibility, it might need to do a better job reporting stories...

52 posted on 01/05/2008 7:18:24 AM PST by topher (Let us return to old-fashioned morality - morality that has stood the test of time...)
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To: 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; afraidfortherepublic; Alas; al_c; american colleen; annalex; ...

Mayor Chris Beutler
555 South 10th, 2nd Floor Rm 208,
Lincoln, NE 68508
Fax: 402-441-7120
E-mail: mayor@lincoln.ne.gov

The women in two separate facilities may be contacted by mail:

Melissa Abbink
4420 NW 41st
Lincoln, NE 68524

Sharon McKee
1125 E. 17th St.
Columbus, NE 68601


53 posted on 01/12/2008 6:30:06 PM PST by Coleus (Merry Christmas and a very Happy and Healthy New Year!!)
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To: topher

**Pro-life Women Jailed for Having Begged an Abortionist to Quit a Decade Ago...**

Amazing story!


54 posted on 01/12/2008 11:23:45 PM PST by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: topher

what other spaces/towns etc only allow “focused picketing”’?

So much for making laws “content neutral” on a public sidewalk no less!

Why can’t Brittany et al just go to court and get “focused picketing” and harrassment laws passed against those creeps with cameras that won’t leave them ?


55 posted on 01/13/2008 12:02:54 PM PST by victim soul
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To: gridlock

MMMM .. your theory might be correct but these women have been jailed since December and have you read/seen/heard anything about them except here?


56 posted on 01/13/2008 12:06:17 PM PST by victim soul
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