2023 OSA National Event Recap

Let’s start off with a little anti-abortion infighting.

The tone for the Operation Save America National Event in Atlanta seemed to be set by the very public conflict that had erupted online the week prior with T. Russell Hunter of Abolish Human Abortion/Abolitionists Rising, where Hunter called out OSA leader Jason Storms for participating in a Live Action publicity event in DC on Dobbs Day, June 24, with several other anti-abortion activists that some consider to be “incrementalists” - anti-abortion activists who believe in laws that chip away at abortion rights as opposed to those that abolish them entirely. Since Operation Save America (OSA) historically has considered themselves to be the original abortion abolitionist organization but has had rifts over whether homicide is justifiable in defense of fetuses, this was both a gauntlet being thrown and a complicated political landscape to maneuver as they had booked a much more mainstream speaker pool this year that had originally included luminaries from Live Action, Patriot Church, the Clay Clark ReAwaken America Tours, and some of Doug Wilson’s contemporaries in Idaho. This led to several online arguments between OSA leadership and Hunter, response videos on both sides, and potentially, the change in the speaker lineup for the OSA National Event in Atlanta.  

In spite of being on the initial speaker roster, Jeff Durbin, Sharam Hadian, AJ Hurley, and Matt Trewhella were all removed from the speaker schedule, and former OSA leader Flip Benham was a late addition. 

Though AJ Hurley was removed from the speaker list and did not appear at any clinics, he was present in Atlanta briefly on Wednesday night with “Pro-Life Spiderman” Maison DesChamps of Let Them Live, and had dinner with OSA leadership. Other unexpected attendees included Larry Cirignano of LifeSite News, several members of the SOAPA preachers, and several people who normally associate with AHA/Abolitionists Rising were also in attendance, despite the public organizational rift.

In the last year, there has been a very heavy shift to focus on the youth of OSA ever since the Warriors for Christ conference. There has been a notable move in trying to pass on responsibility, ownership, and accountability to this next generation, led by the children of current OSA leadership. Several of these teens were also in attendance at several of the Warriors for Christ Pride protests in the WI area, where they posed as gay couples and attempted to infiltrate drag events. 

With all the local tensions going on between police and the Stop Cop City movement, we went into this event knowing that it had the potential for violence, particularly after OSA’s performance attacking clinic escorts in Greenville, back in February. It seemed OSA had considered this as well, since there was also a small group of what appeared to be hired security, led by Kentucky III% leader Terry Bush, best known for lynching an effigy of Gov Andy Bashear.

On the ground, OSA activists seemed to be kept on a fairly short leash. Several attendees have outstanding federal charges for previous blockades, or radius clauses for assaults with escorts that were on site, and everybody seemed to be studiously aware of the boundaries of their limitations and abided by them. Many of the known troublemakers were not in attendance, and several of the known instigators that were on the ground were not allowed to use their bullhorns or allowed on the mic. 

Most protester activity focused on A Preferred Women’s Health Center in Forest Park, GA. Protesters outside the facility averaged between 80-200 per day, with about 30-50% of them being minors. The remainder of the protesters focused on Feminist Women’s Health Center, averaging between 5-30 protesters, mostly adults. There were several public protests that targeted 5 Points, LGBTQIA+ businesses, the Atlanta Braves game, Peaches strip club, and the Capitol building. These were often smaller groups that were between 10-30 people, except for the rally at the Capitol, which was a crowd of about 200. 

There were some incidents of trespassing, particularly at Preferred, where protesters would encroach on the neighboring lot, both on foot and with their PA system, regularly crowd the driveway and block cars from entering, and allow small children to climb the walls of the property. One speaker, Dr. Jana Schmidt, did park on the property, and then left shortly after. And on Thursday, 7/20, one unidentified man tried to access the clinic at APWHC via the back door, dressed as an EMT, after making an unusual appointment with the facility upstairs. He was asked to leave by the clinic manager, and got hostile with her while being recorded in the parking lot. He had several Proud Boy stickers on his vehicle, and did not return. He had not been part of the group prior to the incident, and was not seen after.

There were also hostile incidents with local bypassers. One woman, driving past Preferred, yelled at protesters, claimed they threw something in her car, then drove into the lot to argue with them and a photographer. When protesters were at Peaches strip club, they had the windows of three of their vehicles smashed by unknown locals. 

One counter protester who was on site at the Saturday rally was one street preacher who came to speak out against OSA because they encourage violence. Several members of the group, including Ante Pavkovic and several of the teens, were angry and attempted to debate him, but were pulled away by members of leadership.

Operation Save America members seemed subdued on this trip, likely because of the looming specter of multiple legal cases. Leadership seemed to be keeping members on a short leash, and while spoken rhetoric was still very much in line with continuing on the path of encouraging people toward violence, they all seem to be aware that there are consequences for their actions, and that they are being monitored.

That said, one week later, OSA members met in Watertown, Wisconsin to protest a Pride in the Park event that was also being protested by Gays Against Groomers and the Neo-Nazi group Blood Tribe.  OSA member Josiah Walker tried to engage one of the Blood Tribe members in conversation about bad optics, saying that if it weren’t for their swastika flag, he would be up there with them. After the Nazis left the event, OSA stayed on to harass participants, and member Nick Proell got into a disagreement with police that escalated to the point of him and several other members of the group being detained.

Overall, it does not appear that much has changed with Operation Save America, only that they are better at behaving when they know people are watching them.