Anti-Abortion Extremist Arrested on Sexual Molestation Charges

John Allen Burt, a long-time Pensacola, FL anti-abortion extremist, was arrested yesterday. A six-day search for him began last Thursday based on charges of sexual misconduct asserted by two teenage girls who were living at Our Father's House, Burt's so-called home for "unwed mothers," according to the Pensacola News Journal.

Local police authorities told the News Journal that they had investigated similar allegations in the past but this was the first time enough evidence had been collected to arrest Burt. A spokesperson for the Santa Rosa County sheriff's office told the Sarasota Herald Tribune that investigators were seeking others potential victims.

Our Father's House, run by Burt, is not regulated by the state. According to WEAR in Pensacola, it is accredited and inspected by the Florida Association of Christian Childcare Agencies, Inc. They also reported that based on past complaints, Burt was told he could not live in the home with the girls and could not be alone with any of the girls. It was not reported how these restrictions on Burt's activity at the shelter were monitored or enforced by the association.

John Burt has a long history of connections to violence against abortion clinics in the Pensacola area. He has been arrested numerous times for his participation disruptive protests and clinic invasions. A 1986 invasion led by Burt was the impetus for the NOW v. Scheidler case. Burt led protests in Pensacola on behalf of two couples that bombed three local clinics on Christmas Day in 1984, according to the Sarasota Herald Tribune. Burt was outside the Pensacola clinic when an Our Father's House volunteer, Michael Griffin, murdered Dr. David Gunn in 1993. Griffin's family later claimed that John Burt had manipulated Griffin. Burt is also an associate of Paul Hill who murdered Dr. Bayard Britton and volunteer escort James Barrett outside another local Pensacola clinic in 1994. Burt is on film helping Paul Hill identify Dr. Britton outside the clinic in the weeks before Hill shot and killed Dr. Britton and his clinic escort.

Media Resources: Sarasota Herald Tribune 6/10/03; WEAR TV 6/10/03; Pensacola News Journal 6/11/03; Feminist Majority Foundation; Feminist Daily News Wire

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