17 Senators Ask FBI to Probe Harassment at Abortion Clinics
Seventeen U.S. senators asked the FBI on Friday to investigate a “pattern of harassment” by anti-abortion activists at abortion clinics around the nation.
But the FBI said it can do nothing under current policies.
An anti-abortion group said such a probe would have a chilling effect on all protest movements.
“The recent murder of Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Fla., allegedly by an anti-abortion extremist, has driven home to many Americans the rising tide of anti-clinic violence across the country,” the senators said in a letter to FBI Director William S. Sessions.
The letter was drafted by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who gathered signatures from 16 other senators.
The letter said the actions are intended to prevent women from exercising their constitutional right to abortion and said a full investigation of “violence and harassment against clinics and clinic workers is essential to addressing this growing national problem.”
FBI spokesman Charles Mandigo said the Justice Department, headed by abortion-rights supporter Janet Reno, is reviewing the issue.
Get the L.A. Times Politics newsletter
Deeply reported insights into legislation, politics and policy from Sacramento, Washington and beyond. In your inbox three times per week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
