Albuquerque, NM (LifeNews.com) -- A man was arrested on Saturday outside a late-term abortion facility in New Mexico after he threatened to shoot two pro-life women providing alternatives to women going to the Southwestern Women's Options abortion center. The abortion center is operated by late-term abortion practitioner Curtis Boyd.
The unidentified man and his wife were escorting their daughter to the abortion center when the wife and daughter walked towards the pro-life sidewalk counselors to discuss alternatives to abortion.
The man reportedly became angry and ushered his family towards the abortion clinic.
"When we come out, I'm going to put a bullet in your head if you talk to her," the man told the pro-life women, whose identities pro-life advocates are withholding to protect their security.
Former Operation Rescue intern Bud Shaver said the man then lifted his shirt to reveal a dark object to the two pro-life women that they described as looking like a gun. The women called police who, Shaver said, "responded appropriately and took him away in handcuffs."
Shaver said the man's threat had the opposite effect of allowing abortions as a police SWAT team arrived and shut down the abortion center for two hours, preventing abortions from taking place.
"They cleared Boyd's clinic to search for the gun SWAT style. Everyone, including staff, had to come out with their hands up," Shaver, who witnessed the scene, said.
Shaver said he does not know whether police discovered the man's gun or if charges were filed against him for the threat.
Operation Rescue president Troy Newman notified LifeNews.com of the incident and said threats against pro-lifers have been viewed with greater concern in the wake of the shooting death of pro-life activist Jim Pouillon of Owosso, Michigan, who was gunned down last year as he held a pro-life sign outside a local high school. The killer admitted he murdered Pouillon because he did not agree with his public abortion protests.
Shaver told Operation Rescue he has been threatened a number of times since he has been in Albuquerque, but the police never responded in the way they did on Saturday.
"We are thankful that no one was injured and that the police took appropriate action," said Newman. "Violence against pro-lifers has become something that we have to guard against every day. Those who reach out to women in front of abortion clinics should not be afraid to continue to do so, but should always have security and an awareness of their surroundings in mind."
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