PORTLAND, Ore. (KOIN) — The Mother + Child Education Center in Portland’s Hollywood District is a non-profit resource for pregnant women who decided to have their child and to help young kids.
But Saturday night, their facility was damaged by a group of about 60 people who marched Grant Park through the streets of Northeast Portland vandalizing other businesses and vehicles.
“It’s really sad,” said Maura White, the executive director of Mother + Child. “They’re smashing a community resource.”
The group was ostensibly marching in support of abortion rights following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
“We were one of many attacks in the Hollywood District. And so, if people came on Saturday night, what started as a peaceful march, and, they smashed all of our windows, tagged our building, and we’re just a center that helps people. It’s like the lowest of the low.”
White said a lot of their clients are refugees, immigrants, members of the BIPOC community, low income families and people coming out of recovery. They’re frustrated because now they will have to close while they repair the damage.
“It hurts the families. We’re not open now, probably the whole week,” she told KOIN 6 News. “For some people getting 10 diapers can make the difference between making it or not.”
Police said the vandals damaged multiple local businesses and a school van outside Grant High School.
A parked Tesla was also seriously damaged. Witness Sam Divine told KOIN 6 News, “These people walked by the Tesla, smashed the windows, spray painted the windows. Definitely messed up the car.”
No one was arrested at the Saturday event because PPB officials said they “did not have the resources to intervene in the moment.”
But the investigation is ongoing.