Threat Forces Evacuation of Abortion Clinic

An abortion clinic where a bomb killed a security guard in 1998 was evacuated Monday after employees were told an anthrax-laced letter had been delivered with the day’s mail. Other clinics and offices around the country received similar threats.

The New Woman All Women Health Care Clinic notified authorities after receiving a fax telling of the threat. Police confiscated the letter, which had not been opened, Lt. Moody Duff said.

Duff said all but two employees were evacuated from the building while federal investigators tried to analyze the letter and determine if it was filled with the deadly bacteria.

An off-duty police officer was killed and a nurse was severely injured when the clinic was bombed in January 1998. Suspected serial bomber Eric Robert Rudolph has been charged with the bombing but has not been captured.

Anthrax is an acutely infectious disease that can strike animals and people, though deaths are rare with appropriate treatment.

Among the other locations involved were the Planned Parenthood clinics in Providence, R.I.; Manchester, Conn.; and Naples, Fla., and a government unemployment office in Immokalee, Fla. Tests on the Connecticut letter found it was not contaminated. It was not known if the other letters truly contained anthrax.

Sporadic threats of contamination with the potentially lethal anthrax bacteria date back several years. The FBI said a spate of letters last year contained a sticky substance or dark powder and the warning: “You’ve been contaminated by anthrax.”