Abortion Buster's Manual
The Abortion Buster's Manual is a manuscript written and self-produced by anti-abortion advocate Kevin Sherlock on Easter Sunday, April, 1985 (Item 1).
There is only one known copy of the text in the United States, currently held at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary. This first-edition text is signed by Kevin Sherlock, with the hand-written note, "May God bless your efforts" (Item 2).
The third page of the Abortion Buster's Manual highlights the summarized contents within each chapter of the text, guiding the reader along Sherlock's upcoming attempt at enabling anti-abortion activism against abortionists (Item 3).
On the fourth page of the Abortion Buster's Manual, Sherlock highlights multiple dedications to those who have supported him and those who have inspired him throughout his anti-abortion activism (Item 4).
Sherlock has continued to be outspoken against abortionists. Since 1985, he has also published How to Be Your Own Detective and Victims of Choice. Victims of Choice, in particular, studies abortion-related deaths in women and girls in the United States over a 10-year period (Item 5).
The texts gained favor within the religious community, especially Catholic spaces. "The Blood and Guts of Abortion," a National Catholic Register news piece, not only reviews and describes how Victims of Choice exposes what the author argues is the unseen side of the abortion debate, but the piece also applauds Sherlock's conversation for bringing more people to their side of the anti-abortion debate (Item 6).
Through these items, we see how Sherlock's religiously-motivated pro-life views promote and support anti-abortion violence. Not only was the Abortion Buster's Manual cited in David Gunn Jr.'s testimony after his father's death, but Sherlock's detailed opinions in his texts have been further adopted into other anti-abortion religious communities.
The Abortion Buster’s Manual, published by anti-abortion advocate Kevin Sherlock, was written and self-produced in April 1985. The text serves as a guide for fellow anti-abortionists on how to investigate and "damage" abortion providers.
Along with Sherlock's signature, he includes the comment "May God bless your efforts!" Besides the publication date of Easter Sunday, this is one of the text's preliminary and most straight-forward references to religion.
The text contains 11 chapters and an appendix. The flow of the chapters teaches anti-abortion advocates how to investigate the abortionist and their actions, eventually leading to the final chapter that “shows [the reader] how to use the information [they] have on the abortionist to damage him."
He dedicated his writing to notable historical figures, including Harriet Tubman, whose “conscience made her obey God’s law” instead of human law, and Simon Wiesenthal, the "famous Nazi hunter [who] overcame great obstacles to bring the these enemies to justice" because he notes that "we, as right-to-lifers, are fighting against selfish elitists who have mindsets similar to those of Hilter... and Goebbels."
![[Screenshot of the Victim's of Choice author's note, as published publicly online, and a transcript of the text.]](../../../files/large/d8fe41de93fd7061d6794cf9ac903fb4d44a8cbe.jpg)
Victims of Choice
A decade after the publication of the Abortion Buster's Manual, Sherlock speaks out again about what he sees as the objective facts of abortion.
When describing the book himself, Sherlock notes, "my book asks two simple questions: Why do so many of the doctors who perform abortions treat women and girls so shabbily? And why do government officials and others who should care about the safety of women and girls allow these doctors to get away with it?"
Even more intensely, The Victims of Choice author’s note includes, “I don't have to pass judgment on the abortion providers themselves. The public record proves objectively that many of them are at best substandard doctors, and at worst, the scum of the earth. They have made abortion on demand the medical equivalent of date rape."
The texts gained favor within the religious community, especially Catholic spaces. "The Blood and Guts of Abortion," a National Catholic Register news piece claimed, "Victims of Choice is a compilation of accounts of women and girls who died, were maimed or otherwise traumatized by abortion. Author Kevin Sherlock cites court records, civil case records, newspaper clippings, medical journal studies, health department citations and other public documents to build his case against 'choice.' Unlike most other books on abortion, Victims of Choice lists real names of the victims, the physicians who performed the abortions, and other people involved."
It is further applauded for its use of "death; cold, hard statistics; names, places and people" to "move some fence-sitters on the issue."
1. Sherlock, Kevin. Abortion Buster's Manual. (1985).
2. Sherlock, Kevin. Abortion Buster's Manual, pg. 1, (1985).
3. Sherlock, Kevin. 1985. Abortion Buster's Manual, pg. 2, (1985).
4. Sherlock, Kevin. 1985. Abortion Buster's Manual, pg. 3 (1985).
5. Sherlock, Kevin. 1985. Victims of Choice. (Brennyman Books, 1996).
6. Acosta, Raul. "The Blood and Guts of Abortion." National Catholic Register. April 6, 1997. https://www.ncregister.com/features/the-blood-and-guts-of-abortion (accessed April 24, 2023).