Rape case underscores need for lotal attention to mills

Protesters' photos may be clue in rape case

Detective Jimmy Long, an investigator in Bryant, Ark., was building a case on a man suspected of sexually abusing a 15-year-old girl. Long had a tip that the man got her pregnant and brought her to the Hope Clinic for Women here for an abortion.

That happens to be where Daniel and Angela Michael have camped out for years photographing just about every car that comes in the parking lot. As founders of Small Victories Ministries, they oppose abortion.

This week, Long stumbled across the couple while doing an Internet search on the clinic.

"When I called them, I thought my chances were slim to none," Long said in a telephone interview. "But I called anyway. And it turns out they had them."

What the couple had, police and Daniel Michael said, were three pictures that could prove to be critical.

If you're keeping tabs on your local abortion facility, when a crime happens law enforcement will be able to find you if you maintain a web site, if only a blog. Make note of anything suspicious or unusual. This was how prolifers in Florida solved a bomb scare, and now how these folks have helped a rape investigation.

There are plenty of national-level "Why abortion sucks" web sites and blogs. There are painfully few local ones that keep close tabs on local wrongdoing. Who knows? You might be the ones to help the cops put a child-rapist away next time. And if nothing else, a woman considering an abortion at some fly-by-night might re-think her decision if she's seeing what a cesspool the place is. Even if she still aborts, your efforts to publicize butchery may have saved her from injury or death.

You just never know.

UPDATE: Ministry's photograph gives evidence of forced abortion

"The detective asked, 'Do you have the car?' 'Yes.' 'Do you have the plate?' 'Yes.' And I read it to him."

"And in the background I heard the clicking of the handcuffs," Angela Michael said, along with the comment "We've got him."

How many rapists would be caught, how many girls spared further abuse, if clinics really did do the mandated reporting, instead of placing the responsibility on the girls?