Groups on Both Sides of Issue Condemn Attack : Reaction: Mainstream anti-abortion organizations disavow clinic shootings. But many opponents in debate blame them for provoking violence.

Abortion rights organizations, responding Friday to the latest eruption of abortion clinic killings, angrily blamed abortion foes for provoking clinic violence, even as a wide spectrum of groups and individuals responded with universal horror and anger.

The National Right to Life Committee, which calls itself the largest anti-abortion organization in the nation, deplored the shootings, saying in a statement: “We have always, and continue to, oppose any form of violence to fight the violence of abortion. . . . NRLC has a policy of forbidding violence. . . . (Our) sole purpose is to protect human life.”

Judie Brown, president of the American Life League, another anti-abortion group, said that “the taking of a fellow human being’s life is wrong. . . . It is not the province of any one of us to somehow justify a brutally sinful act against another’s right to life.”

Although mainstream anti-abortion groups joined in the condemnation of the murders in Brookline, Mass., abortion rights groups bitterly attacked them for creating a climate that spawns violence through “their continued use of inflammatory rhetoric,” such as “repeatedly referring to doctors as murderers and baby killers.”

Ann Lewis, vice president for public policy for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, declared: “When you, day in and day out, throw around language like that and encourage demonstrations around clinics that get violent, you cannot issue a press release that says: ‘We disapprove.’ ”

President Clinton, in a statement, said that “violence has no place in America. No matter where we stand on the issue of abortion, all Americans must stand together in condemning this tragic and brutal act.” He quoted former President Ronald Reagan, a staunch abortion foe, as calling nine years ago for “a complete rejection of violence as a means of settling this issue.” Clinton said: “We would do well to heed those words today.”

And Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala was even more blunt: “Two women shot dead in the name of life. Is this how we settle arguments in America? All decent Americans must condemn this terrorist act and the rhetoric that condones it.”

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Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, said “there can be no doubt that the roots of this violence lie in the long-term anti-choice campaign that is based on intolerance and irresponsible, emotional appeals to action. Opponents of choice must take responsibility for creating a climate in which this terror thrives.

“At this juncture, anti-choice leaders must do much more than issue rhetorical condemnations of this senseless, outrageous violence,” she added. “It is past time for them to take strong steps to quell the violence in their ranks.”

But anti-abortion groups disavowed any connection with the violence.

“We are shocked that someone would storm into an abortion clinic, randomly killing and shooting people,” said Paige Cunningham, president of Americans United for Life.

“Today’s shooting is a lawless act, regardless of who the assailant is or what his motive was,” she said. “Americans United for Life emphatically condemns all violence at abortion clinics. Violence is not a solution to the abortion tragedy of 1.5 million deaths per year.”

Similarly, the National Right to Life Committee said that it would “continue to work for peaceful solutions to social problems. These solutions involve helping women and their children and do not involve violence against anyone.”

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Several organizations said they hope the latest episode would serve as a stark reminder that the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act should be strengthened, not weakened, as some congressional abortion foes have threatened in the new Congress.

“Something must be done,” said Ellen Convisser, president of the Massachusetts chapter of the National Organization for Women.

She urged abortion rights groups to fight “right-wing attempts to eviscerate (the law) so that funds are available to protect women and men in danger from anti-abortion extremism.”

Lewis, of Planned Parenthood, agreed, calling for greater collaborative efforts between the clinics and law enforcement officials.

“If we close the doors of the clinics, the terrorists will win and women will lose,” she said. “We have to work out ways to keep the doors open.”