FBI offers $25k reward after Molotov cocktail thrown at NC crisis pregnancy center
The FBI office of Charlotte is offering a $25,000 reward to anyone who can lead them to the individual responsible for throwing a Molotov cocktail at a Lincolnton Crisis Pregnancy Center.
On June 25, at approximately 2:20 a.m., Lincolnton Police received a 911 call regarding a fire at the center, the FBI said in a release on Thursday.
An individual can be seen on surveillance video shared by the FBI throwing a lit Molotov cocktail at the building, officials said. The fire resulted in minor damage to the building.
The FBI is offering the reward “as part of a national effort to bring awareness to a series of attacks and threats targeting reproductive health service facilities across the country.”
The crime carries a penalty of up to 20 years in federal prison, the FBI said.
Another crisis pregnancy center in Asheville, Mountain Area Pregnancy Services, was vandalized in June, the Asheville Citizen Times reported.
Anyone with information is asked to call 1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), contact their local FBI office, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.
What are crisis pregnancy centers?
Crisis pregnancy centers are not abortion clinics and most oppose abortion.
“We exist to recognize all unborn as humans with potential through providing various resource and supportive services in a loving, Christian atmosphere to those facing an unplanned pregnancy,” the Lincolnton Center says on their website.
The center offers pregnancy tests, some ultrasounds, and classes on parenting and abortion.
“A 2012 academic study on crisis pregnancy centers in North Carolina found that 86% of the centers studied provided false or misleading information about abortion,” the News and Observer previously reported.
These centers are not regulated in the same way other medical facilities would be, and are mostly staffed by volunteers who are not medical professionals, NC Health News previously reported.
The North Carolina General Assembly recently voted to increase state funding to these centers, bringing the total amount of funding for 2021-2023 to approximately $19 million, according to the NC Budget and Tax Center.
