Anti-Israel activists attacked a pro-life pregnancy center that provides housing and other free services to women during the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, cementing the doors shut to prevent staff from serving pregnant clients.

Aid for Women operates several centers and two maternity homes in the Chicago area. The nonprofit organization offers a wide range of services to pregnant women in need, including free ultrasounds, pregnancy counseling and parenting classes.

Mary FioRito, a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center and a board member of Aid for Women, shared photos of the damage in a post on X on Friday.

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The activists vandalized one of the nonprofit’s offices on Thursday night after the DNC closed. The vandals wrote “Fake Clinic” and “The real dead babies are in Gaza” on the main entrance and poured cement into the locks to prevent patients and staff from entering the building.

“If you believe that you are thereby blaming those responsible for the repeal of the Roe v. WadeYou are wrong,” FioRito told The Christian Post in a statement addressed to the vandals.

“You are harming pregnant women, many of whom are dealing with difficult circumstances, by withholding (even if only temporarily) the services they voluntarily chose to use,” she continued. “You have withheld from them the free diapers and wipes they might have needed for the weekend. You have withheld from them food and clothing. That is what you have done.”

Gina Marie, a former Aid for Women client who spoke to CP in September 2022, thanked the nonprofit for saving her life. Marie was homeless and struggling with addiction when she discovered she was pregnant, and she sought help from the organization. Aid for Women provided her with housing in one of their maternity homes and helped her find work by driving her to and from interviews.

Marie told CP about a time when she felt the need to refute a blog post that called pregnancy centers “fake,” and remembered all that Aid for Women had done for her. Critics of pregnancy centers often accuse them of posing as medical centers and using deceptive practices to get pregnant women to visit them.

“I thought to myself, ‘Anyone who thinks pregnancy centers aren’t real can’t believe it,'” Marie recalled once writing on Facebook. “My children and I wouldn’t be here today; we literally wouldn’t be here today. I would either be dead or in jail if it weren’t for Aid for Women.”

As The Daily Signal reported on Friday, one of Aid for Women’s security cameras caught four vandals defaced the office at around 3 a.m. When the report appeared, Aid for Women had temporarily stopped receiving clients because staff were not allowed to enter the building.

In a statement to the news agency, FioRito said Aid for Women contacted the FBI and reported the vandalism as a possible violation of the FACE Act. The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act prohibits the use of force, obstruction or property damage intended to disrupt the services of a facility providing “reproductive health services.”

While the FACE Act subjects anyone who behaves in such a way in an abortion clinic to federal charges, the law also applies to churches and pro-life pregnancy centers. The Justice Department under the Biden administration has faced criticism from some pro-lifers who claim that the Justice Department has largely used the law to prosecute pro-life activists rather than vandals at pregnancy centers.

Following the leaked draft of the Supreme Court’s judgment in Dobbs v. Jackson – Women’s Health Organization and the subsequent repeal of Roe v. WadePro-choice activists participated in a wave of violence and vandalism against pro-life pregnancy centers. Activists threw firebombs at pro-life clinics and spray-painted the exteriors of several buildings.

The most recent attack on a pro-life pregnancy center came after Planned Parenthood parked a van near the DNC to offer free abortion pills and vasectomies. Pro-life groups, including Democrats for Life, responded to the company’s initiative with a diaper drive that raised over $6,000.

40 Days for Life, a pro-life group that organizes vigils outside abortion clinics across the country, filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service against Planned Parenthood last week. The pro-life organization argued that Planned Parenthood was engaging in partisan political activity by offering free abortion drugs, emergency contraception and vasectomies at the DNC.

“The presence of Planned Parenthood’s mobile clinic(s) and the provision of free services juxtapose their tax-exempt privilege in a politically charged environment,” the letter states. “They are clear indicators of political support or opposition to certain candidates and parties.”

The letter asked the IRS to investigate whether Planned Parenthood had behaved in a way that could lead to the withdrawal of its tax-exempt status.