Christian Missionary Facing One Year
in American Jail
By Pastor Matt Trewhella The Covenant News ~ December 11, 2008
Drew Heiss is a husband and father. He and his wife, Maura, have five young children, all of whom live at home. However, the State of Wisconsin wants to put him in prison for one year. What is his crime? He allegedly held a sign outside a Milwaukee abortion clinic on a public sidewalk closer than 25 feet from the door. Let me give you the details and a little history here.
Drew is a named individual on an archaic injunction which was put in place against about 30 people, including Drew, back in 1992. The last time anyone was charged with this injunction was in the year 2000 - eight years ago. Drew is always careful to stay 25 feet away since that time, but May 6th of this year, he was charged with violating the injunction.
While at the abortion clinic on that day, a woman stopped and talked to another brother in the Lord who was standing there with a sign. The woman's sister was thinking of having an abortion and she wanted to get help for her. The brother asked Drew to hold his sign while he went to get a pen from his car to write down the information from the woman. Drew walked over and held the sign for about 10 minutes while this brother helped the woman out.
The place where Drew held the sign was close to the 25 foot mark. There are no marks or lines to show exactly where 25 feet away is. If Drew was within the 25 foot zone, it was barely inside. Nevertheless, the abortion clinic personnel seized upon this opportunity to call the police and accuse Drew of violating the injunction. The willing police arrested Drew, and he was held in jail for the next four days.
A willing female prosecutor from Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm's office then charged Drew with the crime of violating the injunction. They offered him seven months in jail if he would just confess. Drew didn't confess, and his attorney was able to have the charges thrown out on a technicality on July 21, 2008. Drew returned to ministering outside the deathcamp at that time.
Then on November 10, 2008, just six days after the presidential election, the State reissued charges against Drew for the May 6, 2008, incident. He is now, again, facing one year in jail.
Drew has been a missionary to the preborn for nearly 18 years now. He has already spent more than three years in jail during that time for non-violently intervening on behalf of helpless preborn babies facing a brutal murder down at the abortion clinic. He merely makes known to the women and men coming there that he is a Christian and help is available so that they do not have to kill their own son or daughter. For this, the State wants him jailed for a year.
Unable to raise support to minister on a full-time basis (as he once did), Drew has worked a job the last several years, most recently as a truck dispatcher. Nevertheless, he has faithfully continued to minister every week out at the abortion clinic here in Milwaukee. He has not been able to turn a blind eye to his preborn neighbor in need. He recently lost his job due to the economic downturn, and is currently seeking employment.
Now the State of Wisconsin (or as the complaint says "The People of Wisconsin v. Drew Heiss") wants to take Drew away from his wife and children, proving yet again that we live in a nation where good is called evil and evil is called good. The Bible says the civil magistrate is to reward those who do good (speaking up for the preborn and helping moms in need is good) and punish those who do evil (murdering a preborn child is a great evil), yet in this case, we see the civil magistrate rewarding those who do evil and punishing him who has done good.
Things do not bode well for our brother, Drew. The preborn children are the most oppressed people group in our nation (no, it's not the homosexuals), and the State has a long history of harshly prosecuting anyone who routinely acts on their behalf. And for the church, well, it has a long history of being indifferent and apathetic towards the injustice the preborn children suffer, and, by extension, of being indifferent and apathetic towards those who do act on their behalf and are prosecuted by the State.
Since the Mission began in 1990, six of the eight abortion clinics in Milwaukee have closed down, and
abortion has dropped by over 50% in the State of Wisconsin.