ROCKFORD, ILLINOIS, September 30, 2000 (Web Today)-- A Catholic priest rammed his car into a Rockford, Illinois abortion clinic on Saturday, according to police..

After entering the clinic, 32-year-old John Earl reportedly used an axe to cut up the inside of the clinic. Earl was arrested and charged with felony criminal damage to property and burglary, with bail set at $10,000.

The incident may have been precipitated in part because of  Vatican Radio broadcasts strongly denouncing the FDA's approval Thursday of the French Abortion Pill.

Abortion clinic owner Dr. Richard Ragsdale dismissed the incident, vowing to open for business as usual on Monday.

 It was probably no accident that Ragsdale's clinic was targeted. In the late 80's, when being picketed by pro-life activists, Ragsdale enraged protestors by passing out helium-filled condoms to their children.. In 1990 Richard Ragsdale was party to one of the most controversial settlements ever made in abortion litigation. 

At that time, abortions were even less regulated than simple ear pearcings. Illinois Attorney General Neil Hartigan fought Ragsdale tooth and nail in multiple court proceedings leading all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Then, with less than a week before an expected high court decision, Hartigan stunned court watchers by flip-flopping on his own pro-life stand, and cutting a "back room deal" with Ragsdale and the ACLU, that allowed Ragsdale's clinic and all abortion clinics to go virtually unregulated for pre-born babies under 18 weeks old. 

Pro-life activists were incensed when they discovered that Hartigan settled the 7-year-old lawsuit without any pro-life representation and that they would no longer get their day in court--before the U.S. Supreme Court. They had high hopes that the Court would use the Ragsdale vs. Turnock case to overturn the historic 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision allowing abortion on demand.. 

To this day the Ragsdale ruling still stands, requiring virtually no medical safeguards for women seeking early term abortions, whether done surgically or through the newly approved abortion pill. 

4.9¢ long distance from WebToday: Online sign-up takes 30 seconds