FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: MIRA WEINSTEIN, 202-331-0066 x705
For those who think that anti-abortion violence is a thing of the past, we hope the tragedy in Birmingham makes them think again.
Women still run a gauntlet at abortion clinics. Doctors and staff at the clinics still face death threats, arson, bombing, stalking, extortion and murder. And abortion opponents who capitalize on these acts to instill fear in every clinic worker are just as guilty as those who light the match or pull the trigger.
These terrorists have friends in high places. Their right-wing sympathizers in state legislatures and Congress give credence to their tactics by creating legislation to restrict or outright ban abortion. These measures will ultimately be as deadly for women as the bombs.
There is no question that anti-abortion extremists have been encouraging and advocating this violence and, we believe, planning it behind closed doors. The National Organization for Women filed NOW v Scheidler in 1986 to stop this deadly conspiracy.
In five weeks opening arguments will begin in this landmark class-action case charging anti-abortion extremists with racketeering. The complaint alleges a nationwide conspiracy of violence designed to deny women our right to abortion. The lawsuit, which seeks a nationwide injunction and triple damages for affected clinics, goes to trial March 2.
Last week, we celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision recognizing abortion as a constitutional right. Just about every women of my generation knows -- or knew -- someone who had an illegal abortion before 1973. We also remember that illegal abortion was the leading cause of maternal death at that time.
After Roe v. Wade was decided, anti-abortion attacks on clinics began almost immediately. They were not orchestrated nationwide, however, until the mid ‘80's after the first national organizing meeting of extremists in my home state of Florida, first in Ft. Lauderdale and then, significantly, in Pensacola, Florida. Three clinics in Pensacola were bombed at Christmas time in 1984, and in March 1985, the one remaining clinic was invaded by anti-abortion extremists. A NOW chapter officer and the clinic administrator were injured in the attack which was organized by Joe Scheidler and carried out by John Burt, who is an admitted former Ku Klux Klan member.
Three people have been murdered in Pensacola, two in Boston. And now the death toll mounts as religious political extremists continue their concerted campaign of anti-abortion terrorism, this time in Birmingham.
Seventeen hundred acts of violence have been directed at clinics in the past 20 years. That is an average of more than seven a month for two decades, and 1997 was one of the most violent years in recent history. But most of these attacks are only reported in the local news and then only briefly.
On the last anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we were confronted with a bombing of an Atlanta clinic which reached new depths of depravity. After a bomb had forced clinic staff outside, after rescue workers, reporters and police officers had come to assist, a second bomb exploded, an anti-personnel bomb with the equivalent of shrapnel. Shortly after that a lesbian night club, the Other Side, was also bombed. And now the FBI has linked these two bombings to the Olympic Park bombing.
A group called the Army of God, long known to us, claimed responsibility for this violence. Rachelle Shannon, who was convicted of shooting Dr. George Tiller twice at close range, was found to have buried in her back yard an Army of God manual with detailed instructions on how to commit arson and bombing, how to damage property and even take life, if necessary, ironically in the name of the pro-life cause. We urge the FBI and the Justice Department to question all of the individuals named in Shannon's diary, also buried, in connection with these incidents.
The National Organization for Women has organizers to Birmingham to work with local activists, abortion providers and law enforcement to take appropriate action. At the national level, we will press for additional federal government resources targeted to ending this violent attack on women's constitutional right.
When NOW began our lawsuit against the anti-abortion thugs, the federal government was still entertaining anti-abortion leaders in the White House and the Justice Department was entering into court cases on the side of Operation Rescue. The change of administration in 1992 has made a significant difference. President Clinton and Attorney General Janet Reno have pushed for the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act to be passed and enforced, but Congress and the White House must put additional resources toward a concerted effort to train local law enforcement, to assist in developing court cases and to mount the political will to stop this violence.
The National Organization for Women will continue to train local activists to organize to keep the clinics open and make them safe. We will remain vigilant against attempts to pass anti-abortion legislation on both the state and federal levels. We will continue our litigation strategy until the terrorists are bankrupt and out of business.
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