A Catholic pro-life activist was sucker-punched by an angry woman during an interview on the streets of New York City, resulting in the activist’s face being bloodied and requiring stitches.
The incident took place as 23-year-old Live Action advocacy group reporter, Savannah Craven Antao, was conducting an interview with a pro-abortion advocate regarding planned parenthood in Harlem. The conversation quickly turned violent.
In a matter of a second, the unidentified woman aggressively swung at Antao, striking her in the face twice before walking off.
‘The left and many abortion supporters, they don’t like a differing opinion – they don’t like their opinion to be challenged,’ Antao told Fox News.
‘Abortion is violence; it begets violence,’ she remarked. ‘This is the impact of abortion. It brings harm to women, families, and infants.’
On Thursday afternoon, Antao was filmed conducting a street interview with an unidentified New Yorker when she asked the simple question: ‘Do you know what Planned Parenthood does?’ according to a Live Action press release.
The organization shared a 15-second clip of the interview, in which the woman appeared to become immediately defensive.
‘You don’t understand the magnitude of having a child,’ the woman stated in the video.
At one point, Antao told Catholic News Agency, the woman stated ‘f**k the police’ and suggested that killing children is better than sending them to foster care.
In the fiery debate, Antao countered with those repeated statements from the woman: ‘I’m not the one who admitted they would be okay with killing babies in foster care and killing children that have been abused.’
‘That’s not the point,’ the woman said, raising her voice. ‘What I’m saying is…’
Before continuing the rest of her sentence, the woman suddenly slugged Antao directly in the face – once with a closed fist and once with her phone.
‘Suck my d**k,’ the woman said over her shoulder as she walked out of the frame and across the street, sticking up her middle finger in the process.
‘I believe what happened here was we got to the end of the argument, I was repeating back the things that she had stated to me, and maybe she realized it didn’t sound too great,’ Antao told Fox News after the fact.
‘She knew about Planned Parenthood,’ Antao told CNA. ‘She totally agreed with me that abortion kills a baby. She knew how the procedure worked.’
In photos shared to social media, Antao was seen with blood and tears dripping down her face and neck. Her left eye appeared to have taken the brunt of the damage, clearly swelling from the unexpected attack.
‘To other people, I’ve seen this happen, but it was in a moment where I never thought this was going to happen to me,’ Antao told Fox.
‘I live here in the city and I’m very used to dealing with out-of-control protestors and abortion supporters, but there was no lead up to this altercation,’ she added.
‘It was like, we were having a conversation and all of a sudden, she just lets loose on my face.’
A video Antao shared to social media showed her riding in the back of a police car while on the way to the hospital for treatment, uneasily describing her attacker to authorities.
‘She’s big. She’s tall,’ she said in the clip.
Henry Antao, her husband and cameraman, also called 911 after the attack and provided officers with photos and descriptions of the suspect.
However, the woman remains at large as she hasn’t yet been identified.
The pro-life activist shared an update to X Thursday evening, informing concerned followers that she required two stitches right below her eyebrow and was in the hospital recovering.
Her husband released a statement to Live Action, expressing hope that justice would be served soon.
‘The woman became aggressive and violent upon learning Savannah’s pro-life stance,’ he said.
‘We are pro life activists because ending abortion and protecting babies from the violence that Planned Parenthood commits is the most important issue of our lifetime.’
Lila Rose, Live Action’s founder and president, also issued a statement to the organization’s website.
‘We are deeply grateful for the work Savannah has done to protect preborn children and help end abortion in our nation,’ she said. ‘Her bravery in the face of violence is heroic.’
‘We are grateful she is safe and receiving support. No one should ever face physical assault for expressing their views in public,’ she added.
‘We will not be intimidated. Live Action will continue our goal to defund Planned Parenthood – which kills over 1,000 children every day while receiving more than $700 million in taxpayer funding.
‘We remain committed to our mission to completely abolish abortion and ensure every child is protected under the law.’
The violent incident comes just two months after an activist holding a trans flag was caught on film charging at a group of anti-abortion protestors on a march in Richmond, Virginia.
In February, the Students for Life group was joining the annual anti-abortion demonstration, March for Life.
A video of the incident, captured by Students for Life Action Government Affairs Coordinator Savanna Deretich, showed the activist running at the group, pushing their banners aside.
The activist appeared to knock the glasses off of one of the protestors head with their flag, causing others to stumble and back away.
In a later clip, they can be seen being led away by police officers.
Sharing the video online, Deretich said: ‘Apparently this activist is infamous and has appeared at events like this before.
‘He came rushing forward, chanting something, and I knew he was going to attack so I pulled out my phone to record it.
‘He sprinted up to our people, knocked the glasses off people’s heads, dashed through our march sign, and kept running.
‘I saw he was arrested by police sometime later.’
