Operation Rescue is perhaps the best-known anti-choice group in the U.S. For over twenty years, Operation Rescue has demonstrated against abortion clinics, deployed so-called “Truth Trucks” to cities and towns around the nation, and otherwise harassed and threatened doctors, clinic workers, and women.

OR was founded by Randall Terry in 1986, when he led a series of protests against abortion clinics in Binghamton, New York; his tactics included physically barricading clinic doorways and keeping women from leaving their cars. The group rose to prominence two years later when it demonstrated outside of the Democratic National Convention in Atlanta, and for a time was perhaps best-known for its 1991 protest in Wichita, Kansas, at Dr. George Tiller’s clinic. The six-week long protest resulted in thousands of arrests and drew national attention to the tactics of OR, the bravery of Dr. Tiller and his staff, and the immense amount of stress and intimidation that his patients experienced as protesters chained themselves to fences, crawled across the ground, and otherwise kept the clinic under siege for 45 days.

In 1994, President Clinton signed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances, or FACE, Act into law. Clinic workers and their patients were now protected from the physical threat, force, and obstructions they had put up with for years, and the threat of criminal and civil penalties for those who violated the law did cause a decrease in certain types of clinic violence, specifically blockades. It is indisputable that FACE affected Operation Rescue’s tactics, but the organization, which seemed to be on the verge of bankruptcy as recently as last fall, is still very active.  Following Dr. Tiller’s assassination, OR announced that they will now work on putting Nebraska provider LeRoy Carhart out of business. And earlier this summer, the Kansas-based group established a small office in Albuquerque, New Mexico; in response to the organization’s presence in the city, a pro-choice rally is scheduled for Friday, July 30.