Newspaper accuses Texas Right to Life of "harassing" Saint Arnold’s Brewing Company after Pro-Lifers expressed concerns
In early April, Texas Right to Life published a piece about an upcoming anti-Life event to be held at the Saint Arnold Brewing Company in Houston. The brewery rented the space to NARAL Pro-Choice Texas, an abortion lobby group, for an event called “Men for Choice.” We encouraged Pro-Life Texans to voice their disappointment in the decision by contacting Saint Arnold’s via Facebook, email, and telephone. In the article, we made the following suggestion to Pro-Life advocates (the full article can be read here):
You can visit the Saint Arnold Brewery page on Facebook to share why you are disappointed that they have chosen to help one of the most aggressively anti-Life organizations in the state of Texas. The brewery can be reached by phone at (713) 686-9494 and (800) 801-6402 or emailed at brewery@saintarnold.com.
Free Press Houston and NARAL Pro-Choice Texas have called our statement “harassment,” and said that Texas Right to Life encouraged others to “harass” and “bully” the brewery and the abortion group:
The online harassment we’ve seen this week encouraged by Texas Right to Life is nothing new from the anti-choice movement,” said Heather Busby, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. “The anti-choice movement has always relied on bully tactics, and those tactics have only escalated and intensified as access to abortion clinics has been drastically reduced in Texas.
We find the suggestion that Pro-Lifers are bullies laughable in light of the bullying and harassment that we receive on a daily basis. Many Texans who enjoy Saint Arnold’s beer were disappointed to hear about the brewery’s accommodation of an abortion fundraiser. After learning of the event, Pro-Life advocates immediately contacted the brewery. Some Pro-Lifers are even refusing to purchase the beer anymore, boycotting Saint Arnold’s for their cooperation with the culture of death. According to Free Press Houston and NARAL, Pro-Life statements such as, “Do you really believe in abortions? Do you really believe this is a good cause? Really?” were among the most vitriolic comments they could find.
In response to disappointed customers, the brewery has repeatedly attempted to neutralize concerns by claiming that renting space for an abortion fundraiser was an act of being “inclusive” and recognizing “different viewpoints” in the community. But on this point, NARAL and Texas Right to Life both see the situation differently than Saint Arnold’s does: we both agree that renting the brewery to NARAL is an expression of support for the abortion group, as evidenced by the following tweet shared by NARAL:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/LindsayHotRod">@LindsayHotRod</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/SaintArnold">@SaintArnold</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/naraltx">@naraltx</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/lilithfund">@lilithfund</a> Beer AND abortions?! Sounds like winning to me.</p>— Sarah Tuttle (@niais) <a href="https://twitter.com/niais/status/590682603675643906">April 22, 2015</a></blockquote>
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Common sense indicates that providing a desirable venue to NARAL so that the group can hold a successful fundraiser – intended to help them dismantle the defense of Life in Texas—is no light matter. When Life and death literally hang in the balance, we must consider the gravity of assisting the abortion movement in achieving their goal of unlimited, unrestricted, elective child killing in Texas. This is precisely what businesses like Saint Arnold’s, and churches like First United Methodist in Austin, do when they offer space to groups like NARAL.
