Clinic Violence is an Ongoing Problem

March 10 will mark the sixth anniversary of slain abortion provider Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Fla.

Since his death, the violence has not ended. Women's health clinic violence is the number one terrorist threat in the United States today, according to The Abortion Rights Activist.

The Abortion Rights Activist http://www.cais.com/agm/main/violence/htm reports in 1998 there were 15 "severe forms of clinic violence," including the deaths of Dr. Barnett Slepian and Robert "Sandy" Sanderson, a police officer moonlighting as a security guard.

Slepian was shot and killed by a sniper in his Amherst, N.Y. home on Oct. 23, 1998.

Sanderson was murdered when a bomb exploded at the New Women, All Women Health Care Clinic in Birmingham, Ala. on Jan. 29, 1998. Sanderson is credited by Jeff Lyons for saving the life of his wife, Emily, a nurse at the clinic. Emily suffered severe injuries in the blast. Her story and the start of her online book, Life Has Been A Blast can be read at http://www.EmilyLyons.com

If the aim of the terrorists who bombed the clinic was to shut it down, they were disappointed. The clinic was reopened in a week, although it took Emily much longer to recover from her wounds.

The National Abortion Federation http://www.prochoice.org has tracked incidents of anti-choice violence and harassment since 1977. They cite the 1998 statistics as follows: two murders, one attempted murder, four arsons, one bombing and 19 butyric acid attacks for a total of 27 "serious" incidents. Lesser incidents, including death threats, are too numerous to mention. It should be noted since 1977 seven people died in clinic violence-related incidents.

The Body Politic http://www.bodypolitic.org states the number of clinic blockades decreased, while other crimes, including hate mail, bomb threats, picketing and vandalism increased.

A survey by the Feminist Majority Foundation http://www.feminist.org found severe violence still plagues one-third of all clinics in the United States. The twelve states with "especially severe violence" are: Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin. The survey also points out that less than half of the clinics won legal remedies sought. Although most recently, on Feb. 2, 1999 a federal jury returned a verdict against anti-abortion activists in favor of Planned Parenthood, a women's health clinic and four doctors under the FACE and RICO statues. A first hand account of the trial will be available in the March/April issue of The Body Politic magazine at http://www.bodypolitic.org

Clinics across the country are looking for volunteers to escort women into the facilities. To help combat the violence, health centers also need observers to pay attention and record anti-choice activity and police response. For more on this see the New York Clinic Defense Task Force site at http://www.echonyc.com/~nycdtf/.

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