An elderly pro-life advocate was viciously assaulted outside of a Baltimore Planned Parenthood clinic on Friday, the leader of a local pro-life group told The Daily Signal.

Jay Walton, the head of Baltimore County Right to Life, said Tuesday morning that 73-year-old Mark Crosby and Dick Schafer were “viciously attacked” while they was praying in front of a Planned Parenthood clinic in Baltimore.

“It is important to note that the two victims were not robbed,” Walton said in a statement. “This was a vicious attack on two men because they are pro-life. This should be treated as a hate crime and denounced by Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott (D), as well as Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D). Their silence on this attack will continue to put pro-lifers in danger throughout the state of Maryland.”

LifeSiteNews first reported the alleged assaults. The outlet spoke with pro-life activist John Roswell, who said that the assailant asked a Planned Parenthood escort to hold his drink, then lunged at Schafer, who believes his back was turned at that time to the assailant.

“Mark, who was in the street, tried to go to Dick’s aid and was hit in the face, knocking him on the ground, and the man then kicked him in the head,” Roswell told LifeSiteNews.

Neither Baltimore Planned Parenthood, nor Baltimore police immediately responded to requests for comment. Walton said that no police report was filed—though police reportedly came to the scene—because “nobody is willing to identify the man who attacked Mark and Dick.”

Photographs of Crosby show him dressed in a bloody t-shirt that says “pro-life.” His face is dramatically disfigured, with one eye swollen shut, and blood dripping from his eye socket, forehead, and nose. Crosby’s injuries were so severe that he had to go to the University of Maryland shock trauma facility, Walton told The Daily Signal.

Roswell told LifeSiteNews that Crosby’s “plate bone in his upper-right cheek is completely fractured.” Crosby was also said to be “bleeding from some unidentified area behind his eye and the bone eye orbit is completely shattered and will have to be replaced with metal.”

A GoFundMe link for Crosby has raised almost $4,000 since Saturday.

“One of our volunteers, Mark Crosby, was brutally beaten on May 26, 2023, while he was praying in front of the Planned Parenthood in Baltimore City,” the GoFundMe says. “Mark is currently in the hospital being treated for the serious injuries he sustained. Please make a donation to help Mark recover financially from this terrible experience.”

“For years, Mark has prayed in front of the Planned Parenthood in Baltimore City to let the scared, young abortion-minded women know that they are loved, that their baby is loved,” the description continues. “Please donate to show Mark how much HE is loved. Your donation will go to Mark to help him pay for medical expenses.”

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.

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