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Randall Terry Plans to Target Obama’s Notre Dame Speech

Randall Terry, the founder of the militant anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, is planning to “make a circus” out of President Obama’s Sunday commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame. A small plane with a graphic banner of an aborted fetus and several trucks with similar images have been displayed above and around the campus in the past three weeks. According to NBC, Terry has spent upwards of $50,000 thus far on the protests.

Terry and members of his group are planning to be arrested while protesting with graphic signs Sunday, reported the Associated Press. On May 1, Terry was arrested on Notre Dame’s campus in an incident where he was walking a stroller that held a fake-blood covered doll.

Indiana Right to Life has distanced their organization from Terry’s protests. President Mike Fichter told NPR that “Indiana Right to Life is not directly engaged in protests planned at the commencement ceremony….We are being very clear that we want individuals to express their concerns in a way that is civil, that is respectful, and that leads to a long-term dialogue not only with Notre Dame but with the Catholic university system as a whole.” Fichter also said Terry’s strategy is “successful in working a community into a frenzy, and whipping up anger, frustration and confrontation…but [does] little to foster our relationship with the university.”

Sources:

NPR 5/14/09; Associated Press 5/13/09; NBC 5/14/09

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