0

Jackblog

Roy McMillan, Anti-Abortion Gadfly, Dead

Roy McMillan has died after a long illness, the Clarion-Ledger reported.

Frequent visitors to Fondren know McMillan as the brash, fedora-wearing, fetus-sign waving anti-abortion protester near the Jackson Women's Health Organization.

A bit of history on http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2012/aug/01/inside-abortion-clinic-battle/">McMillan:

In 1995, a federal court ordered McMillan to stay 50 feet away from the clinic for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, enacted in 1994 after Dr. (David) Gunn's murder in Pensacola. According to court records, on May 3, 1995, McMillan made his hand into the shape of a gun and told clinic employees: "Y'all look like a bunch of birds on a telephone wire waiting to be shot off by a man with a shotgun...Pow, pow, pow, pow."

McMillan pickets the clinic each day they see patients by displaying signs that carry pictures of fetuses and messages equating abortion to genocide. He and his wife, Beverly, an OB/GYN and former abortion doctor, also oppose all hormonal birth control including the pill and the morning-after pill.

He told the http://www.jacksonfreepress.com/news/2005/sep/28/no-apologies-inside-mississippis-pro-life-movement/">Jackson Free Press that meeting Beverly in 1982 is how he became involved in the pro-life movement.

JFP reporter Casey Parks wrote of McMillan: "He was reluctant to even join the mission. He thought Beverly was cute and smart when he saw her speak, though, so he asked her on a date. She thought he was charming, and they quickly married.

The pro-life movement inundated the husband's life as the wife spent most of her weekends speaking around the state. He joined the pro-life movement rather halfheartedly—he agreed to oversee one of the pro-life publications. His master's in journalism from Columbia University would come in handy, he thought, and besides, he wanted nothing to do with sidewalk counseling or protesting. When a colleague suggested that Roy go out to the clinic to take some action photos, Roy got a little nervous."

http://jacksonfreepress.com/users/photos/2016/jan/21/24204/">https://jacksonfreepress.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2016/01/21/Screenshot_2016-01-21_at_3.40.17_PM.png" alt="Roy McMillan at the Jackson Women's Health Organization. Photo by Donna Ladd.">

https://jacksonfreepress.media.clients.ellingtoncms.com/img/photos/2016/01/21/Screenshot_2016-01-21_at_3.40.17_PM.png">Roy McMillan at the Jackson Women's Health Organization. Photo by Donna Ladd. by R.L. Nave

Comments

Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.

Sign in to comment