The video of the attack, in which Craven Antao is seen beaten and bloodied after asking Rivers a question about Planned Parenthood, went viral earlier this year, drawing hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube and hundreds of thousands more on X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook. According to the Thomas More Society, Rivers was arrested and initially charged with second-degree assault, a felony. Bragg later demoted the charge to a misdemeanor and eventually dismissed the charges against Rivers altogether. (Screengrab image: via LiveAction /YouTube)

The New York Post reported that Bragg's office failed to turn over evidence to the courts by a deadline, resulting in the case against Rivers being dismissed. The D.A.'s office also failed to notify Craven Antao that the charges were being dropped and has reportedly ignored phone calls from the Thomas More Society. The outlet quoted Rivers saying that her victim is "just fishing for more clicks and empathy and targeting me for harassment, so yeah, I don't really feel anything about it." However, the attacker reportedly "liked" numerous social media comments congratulating her (often using vulgar language) for beating Craven Antao. "You ain't hit that girl hard enough," one comment read. Another comment said that the pro-life journalist "deserved it 1000%..."

On Tuesday night's episode of "Washington Watch," Live Action News Correspondent Christine Bennett, a colleague of Craven Antao's, referred to Rivers's attack as "shocking." Bennett said, "I think that's why it got national attention, because people were horrified to see that type of violence." She continued, "Savannah was questioning her about her pro-life opinions. And this woman, Brianna, she sucker-punched her. And after that, she repeatedly mocked the situation, made jokes about it online, and now she's making light of the fact that her charges were dropped. And it's really just unjust."

Bragg's decision not to prosecute Rivers comes amidst a surge of violence against conservatives and Christians in the US Following the leak of the US Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, a left-wing extremist attempted to assassinate Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a Catholic and one of the high court judges who signed onto the opinion dismantling federal protections for abortion. Since the leak, over 360 Catholic churches have been attacked, in incidents ranging from vandalism to firebombing, in addition to numerous pro-life pregnancy resource centers. According to advocacy agency CatholicVote, only 30% of attacks against Catholic churches have resulted in arrests. (Screengrab image: via C-SPAN)

More recently, President Donald Trump survived two assassination attempts, a transgender-identified shooter killed two Catholic schoolchildren and injured many more in Minnesota, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was assassinated on a college campus in Utah, a sniper targeted US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Texas, and violent riots have raged against ICE officers across the country, from Los Angeles to Chicago to Portland.

"Political violence should never be tolerated or given a free pass. When those in power refuse to hold accountable those who respond to free speech with violence, it threatens the very fabric of our civil society," Craven Antao said in a statement. "Failing to prosecute these clear-cut charges sets a dangerous standard for how our society responds to violence against those engaging in democratic dialogue," Thomas More Society senior counsel Christopher Fererra added. "This blatant example of selective prosecution shows a troubling disregard for equal protection, leaving peaceful pro-life advocacy exposed to intimidation and violence," he continued. "People need to learn accountability for what is happening in this country over the last year, which is this wave of violence by left-wing activists who think that the appropriate response to an opinion they don't like is either punching, kicking, assaulting or shooting somebody."

As Bennett underscored, "Violence is never acceptable. We fight with words and ideas and debate and civil dialogue. And that back and forth is a beautiful thing. [It's] a gift that we have as Americans, a protected right that we have for freedom of speech." She continued, "And so violence is never the answer. And it really shows people, this dropping of the charges shows people that you can commit an act of violence and get away with it. And that is not the message that we need right now in America."

In comments to The Washington Stand, Mary Szoch, director of the Center for Human Dignity at Family Research Council, said, "It is deeply concerning that the attacker of pro-life journalist Savannah Craven Antao will not be criminally charged. Anyone can see that the video footage shows just how violent and criminal the attackers actions were." She continued, "Unsurprisingly, those who are comfortable with tearing apart an innocent, defenseless, unborn child in the womb, have become more and more comfortable with extreme violence against pro-lifers. This must stop. We must pray for a renewal of a respect for all life in our country—from the moment of fertilization until the moment of natural death." Subscribe for free to Breaking Christian News here

S.A. McCarthy serves as a news writer at The Washington Stand.

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