Abortion Clinics Deserve Protection

The fear of terrorism close to home, unfortunately, is not new to the health care providers who work in abortion clinics. The arrest of Clayton Lee Waagner, who is suspected of sending hundreds of anthrax hoax letters to these clinics, again shows the urgent need to protect reproductive health care providers from violence and threats of violence. At the time of his arrest last week, Waagner was threatening to kill 42 clinic workers and claiming to have staked out more than 100 clinics in 19 states.

Extremist foes of abortion rights are engaged in a systematic effort to intimidate doctors and other health professionals. Unfortunately, these terrorist tactics have enjoyed some success. The targeting of abortion clinics has caused some to shut down and has forced some health care workers to choose other fields. Opponents of abortion certainly have the right to express their views, but violence and threats of violence are not protected by the Constitution.

In 2000, according to the Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Clinic Violence Survey, one in five abortion clinics reported incidents of severe violence, including blockades, bombings, arson, chemical attacks, stalking and gunfire. California led the nation in clinic arsons and bombings from 1982 to 2000. Nationally, doctors who provide abortions have been murdered and maimed, along with other health care workers, escorts, security personnel and bystanders. For the past four years, two of the 10 fugitives on the FBI’s most wanted list have been anti-abortion terrorists. Extremist anti-abortion groups are using threats to intimidate clinics into closing.

The staggering amount of violence and harassment faced by clinic workers decreases access for women seeking reproductive health care. After the 1998 murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian in New York, 10% of clinics surveyed by the Feminist Majority Foundation found that a physician or other staff member had quit because of violence, harassment or intimidation. According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, in 1996, 86% of the counties in the United States had no abortion providers.

Violence and threats of violence are undermining a woman’s constitutional right to choose. A right means very little if the ability to exercise it does not exist. The right to vote would have little meaning if voting booths were consistently the target of arsonists, bombs and anthrax threats. Society surely would not tolerate such actions.

Allowing domestic terrorism to determine whether women receive health care is not only a tragedy for patients and clinic workers, but it also makes a mockery of the rule of law. Acquiescence to the agenda of anti-abortion terrorists sends the message that society is willing to trade away constitutional rights to avoid confrontation.

The solution must be aggressive enforcement of laws against violence and threats of violence directed at the clinics and health care providers. The federal Freedom of Access to Clinics Entrances Act provides crucial protection. The Clinton Justice Department made enforcement of this law a high priority. Unfortunately, Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft, a strong foe of abortion rights, has not indicated the same commitment.

Moreover, the 1st Amendment does not protect speech that threatens others. It is constitutionally permissible to hold liable a Web site that depicts dripping blood, lists clinic workers’ names and other personal information. As a federal jury found, any reasonable person faced with this would fear for his or her safety.

What’s most needed is a commitment to apprehend perpetrators and shut down clandestine organizations and networks that finance, aid, abet and harbor them. Violence and threats against clinics and health care providers are acts of domestic terrorism. It should be treated as such.