Vandals target pro-life billboards, scrawl 'your life drains earth' beneath picture of baby

Volunteers from a pro-life organization spent hours placing 3,600 crosses in a field in Bellingham, Washington, over the weekend.

Each cross, crafted by hand and painted bright white, represented one of the babies who is killed by abortion every day in the U.S.

That was Saturday.

The night before, three of eight Lynden Human Life's pro-life signs, which are spread out across Whatcom County were vandalized. Lynden Human Life is a nonprofit that provides education and resources to help protect the unborn and the elderly.

Coincidence?

Spokeswoman Lynden Juanita Verbree doesn't believe so.

"I think this group knew what our plans were and went to work the night before [the crosses went up]," Verbree told TheBlaze in a phone interview Tuesday.

Verbree, who has worked with Lynden Human Life since 1981, said the group puts up the crosses every January just before the anniversary of Roe v. Wade.

Roe v. Wade was a landmark decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 22, 1973. It ruled with a 7-2 majority that individual state laws banning abortion were unconstitutional.

More than 100 volunteers helped set up the cross display.

A group of volunteers placed 3,600 white crosses in a field.Image source: Martin Verbree

On one end of the field, next to where the crosses will stand until about mid-April, is another sign that reads, "Abortion stops a beating heart 3,600 times a day.

The cemetery will stay in the field until mid-April.Image source: Martin Verbree

What did the vandals do to the signs?

All three of the 12 foot by 8 foot signs were vandalized with paint. Verbree's husband builds the portable frames out of wagons so they can be moved around to various locations around the county.

"Take my hand not my life," the sign situated along State Highway 539 reads.

The vandals wrote,"Your life drains earth," in red spray paint.

The other side of the sign shows the face of a baby at 20-weeks gestation.

"I am an American. 40+ years of denying this self-evident truth is long enough," the billboard reads. "America, it's time to protect your children again."

On that one, the vandals scrawled the words, "Smash patriarchy," along with two female symbols.

Pro-life billboard was vandalized.Autumn Lindsey/Students for Life of America

"Call Planned Parenthood" was painted across the third sign on Hennegan Road.

What did the authorities say?

Verbree said she reported the vandalism to the county sheriff's office.

She said the authorities told her that the tagging on the billboards appeared to be linked to an anarchist group in Bellingham.

But she said no one has been arrested in connection to the vandalism since there were no witnesses.

What else?

Verbree said the billboards and the crosses typically get few negative comments, but that this wasn't the first time they've been vandalized using paint or other methods.

In the past, someone slashed the group's signs with knives. Verbree also recalled someone running down the crosses in the field with a four-wheeler.

But she's not giving up on her fight for the unborn.

"I think we're planting seeds," Verbree told TheBlaze. "It could change [someone's] position in the future."