Reno Says Law Is Needed to Protect Women Entering Abortion Clinics

New legislation is needed to protect women entering abortion clinics because a recent Supreme Court ruling undermined federal authority to assure such access, Atty. Gen. Janet Reno said Tuesday.

“Current federal law, in light of the (court) decision, I don’t think is adequate . . . to prevent or to help prevent physical interference with access to abortion clinics,” Reno told reporters.

On Capitol Hill, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) introduced legislation that would make it a federal crime to attack medical personnel or clinic property. It also would allow the U.S. attorney general to bring civil suits to obtain injunctions against such conduct. A similar measure has been introduced in the House.

Reno’s comments came in her first news conference. On other matters, she:

--Called for all U.S. attorneys nationwide to submit their resignations so the Clinton Administration can put its own people in place.

--Denied reports that a successor has been chosen for embattled FBI Director William S. Sessions. “I haven’t chosen him and the President hasn’t chosen him and I don’t know who else would choose him,” she said.

On women’s access to abortion clinics, the Supreme Court ruled last January in a Virginia case that federal judges cannot stop, through injunctions, protesters who try to block such access. The court said state laws--not an 1871 federal law, the Ku Klux Klan Act--must be relied on to prevent blockades.

The Bush Administration had supported the decision. But Reno, in one of her first actions, directed the Justice Department to review the laws to see if federal intervention was possible. That review led her to conclude that a new law was needed.