LYNCHBURG, Va. – Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares stopped by the Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center in Lynchburg on Wednesday afternoon.
“Individuals decided to intimidate and terrorize the very, very best of Virginia,” Miyares said. “The people that did this are the worst of Virginia.”
Recommended Videos
Miyares was referring to the group of four masked vandals caught on camera bashing windows and painting threatening messages at the center following the overturn of Roe v. Wade.
Taking a walk around the center weeks later, it was clear to Miyares that the damage left behind goes beyond boarded-up windows.
“Taking a crowbar is no way to make a political statement,” Miyares said.
However, support for the center goes beyond state and local leaders, and despite everything, the vandalism has since brought the community closer together.
“The donations monetarily have been amazing. People definitely are for what we do,” Blue Ridge Pregnancy Center Executive Director Susan Campbell said. “Every day we come in and the door is blocked with 20 packages from an Amazon registry gift list.”
As state leaders continue the search for the vandals, they’re taking action to keep other pregnancy centers around the Commonwealth safe.
“It’s sad that we’re at this stage, but the reality is that is the world we live in right now,” Miyares said.
Miyares said centers can get a free on-sight evaluation and that there is federal funding to help make sure they have the security they need.
“It shows the support that this is wrong and they’re behind everything we’re trying to do to further our mission, as well as get us up and going,” Campbell said.
Campbell said this isn’t a partisan issue, and that the center has received love from people on both sides of the aisle and is looking forward to an arrest.