The Baltimore Police Department continues investigating a reported assault where two pro-life protestors were allegedly attacked outside a Planned Parenthood clinic by an unknown subject who purportedly opposed their stance on abortion.
The victims targeted Friday outside the facility on North Howard Street were identified as Dick Schaefer and Mark Crosby.
“One of our volunteers, Mark Crosby, was brutally beaten on May 26, 2023, while he was praying in front of the Planned Parenthood in Baltimore City,” said the president of the Baltimore County Right to Life chapter, Jay Walton. “Mark is currently in the hospital being treated for the serious injuries he sustained.”
“For years, Mark has prayed in front of the Planned Parenthood in Baltimore City to let the scared, young abortion-minded women know that they are loved, that their baby is loved,” added Walton.
Images posted on Walton’s Facebook page purportedly showed Crosby wearing a shirt printed with the message “Pro-Life,” with swelling over his eye and blood covering his face following the attack.
A Baltimore police officer said one of the victims, who is 73, told investigators that he was standing outside the Planned Parenthood clinic on Friday morning “in support of pro-life ideals when an unidentified [white male] attacked another member of the same beliefs as [him].”
In the redacted police report, the individual “stated that he immediately went to assist and was struck by the suspect and fell to the ground where he was struck in the face,” said the report.
Police confirm the other victim, 80, suffered a laceration on his hand and “advised the suspect had approached Planned Parenthood volunteer members and spoke with them before directing his attention to him.
That victim confirmed “the suspect aggressively spoke with him, opposing [his] pro-life ideals and without warning tackled him into a large flowerpot,” continued the report.
Several witnesses of the assault on elderly pro-life activists
The report also noted that several witnesses saw the assault unfold, with one informing investigators that the “conversation between the suspect and [80-year-old victim] was a debate over their ideas about pro-life and pro-choice viewpoints.”
The report added that the officer-reviewed video footage showed the 73-year-old victim being punched in the head by the suspect as he was lying on the ground before being kicked with “extreme force” in the face.
According to the report, the suspect was last seen on security cameras several blocks away. He was described as wearing a “gray T-shirt, blue jeans, brown shoes with brown hair and a full beard.”
Police said the 73-year-old victim “was diagnosed with a large hematoma, hyphemia, and head and neck pain but [is] in stable condition.”
In a statement, the CEO and president of Planned Parenthood of Maryland, Karen Nelson, said the organization “does not condone any violence, and I think it is unfortunate that there was an incident that occurred outside our health center.”
“It’s a darn shame that folks who are trying to receive health care have to put up with remarks and comments when they are just trying to go into a facility and receive health care,” added Nelson.
