War Against a Woman’s Right

Until this week, the coastal area between Ventura and San Luis Obispo mercifully had experienced little of the violence that has plagued physicians’ offices and abortion clinics elsewhere in the country. In large measure, women could obtain family planning services, including abortions, without suffering harassment.

In the last week, however, arson-linked fires have occurred at clinics in San Luis Obispo and Ventura and at a private medical office in Santa Barbara. The San Luis Obispo fire was the worst, causing $50,000 in damage. Fortunately, no one was injured in any of the blazes. Federal officials are trying to determine whether the three incidents are connected.

Such violence against facilities that perform legal abortions is inexcusable. Federal and local law enforcement officials must ensure that these outrages do not increase as they have in other parts of the nation.

Fear of violence prompted one San Luis Obispo obstetrician to stop performing abortions some years ago. That corrosive fear is apparent not just among the ranks of practicing doctors but in medical schools as well. Only 12% of obstetrical residency programs now train doctors in first-trimester abortions, down from 25% in 1976. As a result, abortions are increasingly unavailable to American women.

These facts underline the importance of a vote taken this week by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education. The council, which supervises medical education, acted to require that prospective obstetricians be taught abortion techniques. The new policy makes appropriate exceptions for individuals and hospitals with moral or religious objections to abortion.

American women have the right to choose abortion; violence and fear must not be allowed to render that right meaningless.