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Residents upset over graphic anti-abortion flyer left on front doors

Posted at 9:14 PM, Aug 24, 2018
and last updated 2018-08-24 23:00:13-04

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. -- A group of Grand Rapids residents are very upset after a graphic anti-abortion flyer is being left at their front doors. Some say the pictures are very disturbing and they have no clue as to who made the flyer.

 The flyers include graphic images, but also pictures of a doctor at a women’s clinic downtown who performs abortions. The flyers have caused quite a stir on social media and, so far, nobody has claimed responsibility.

It's a two-sided anti-abortion flyer Samantha Searl along with many other Grand Rapids residents found in their door last weekend, but the contents of it, Samantha says, went too far.

"It has two grotesque pictures that you can imagine a group like this would put up," said Samantha. "The doctor’s picture is also on there as well as the address.”

The flyer also includes Bible verses and a photo of Dr. Thomas Gordon, the current medical director at the Heritage Clinic for Women in Grand Rapids.

"It’s just inappropriate," said Samantha. "There’s no reason to put someone’s name, address, anything like that for public distribution.”

A different flyer distributed to other residents mention Dr. Gordon, listing a criminal history, licensing issues with the state and the procedures he performs. FOX 17 reached out to the Heritage Clinic on Friday, but they declined to comment.

Samantha says it’s not right for the flyers to include information about the doctor.

"The good doctor doesn’t need to have his face publicized out there for the masses, because who knows who’s going to see that picture?," said Samantha. "It’s not an innocuous topic. It gets people riled up pretty easily and who knows who’s out there in the cracks and crevices that might see something like this and just snap?”

Samantha says she didn’t see who left it on her door.

The organization, Grand Rapids Right to Life, a well-known pro-life organization in West Michigan, says they’re not responsible and released the following statement to FOX 17:

"Although Grand Rapids Right to Life did not create nor distribute this flier, we understand that other organizations take a different approach to the goal of ending abortion."

While Samantha says she’s pro-choice, she’s open to discussion, just not with this flyer.

"It needs to be handled with much more couth. It needs to be handled much more professionally and I think that they would be able to get their word out more appropriately if they did so," said Samantha.

Word about these flyers started on the NextDoor app, a neighborhood discussion group. While there was a large number of people against these flyers being distributed, there were some people who said they felt it was a fair and honest representation of information about abortion.