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 Area:    Feminism
  Msg:    #314
 Date:    11-09-94 18:56 (Public) 
 From:    Randy Edwards            
 To:      All                      
 Subject: MORE ANTI-ABORTION VIOLEN
°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°°
[****PNEWS CONFERENCES****]
From: J. Meisner / M.G. 

The following piece was written by Leslie Griffith, Cochair of the 
Reproductive Freedom Counteroffensive, a project of Refuse & Refuse!, an 
antirepression organization.

YET ANOTHER ABORTION CLINIC ATTACKED BY ANTIABORTION TERRORISTS

On November 3, the day Paul Hill was convicted for the cold-blooded 
assassinations of Dr. John Britton and Mr. James Barrett, a pipe bomb 
exploded in the driveway of a Planned Parenthood clinic in San Rafael, CA, 
about 15 miles north of San Francisco.  A business next door was damaged.

California is no stranger to antiabortion violence.  This is one of a 
number of attacks in less than a month in the state.

--Also on November 3, a Planned Parenthood in Fremont, CA was raided 
through the front and back doors by antichoicers as police stood by.  The 
clinic staff shouted and chased the invaders out.

--On October 18, a molotov cocktail thrown into a clinic in San Jose caused 
$500 in damage.

--On October 9, an arson fire at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Chico 
caused $35,000 in damage.

--On the same day, about 1 1/2 hours later, a clinic in Redding was the 
victim of an arson fire that caused $3,000 in damage.  Redding is a little 
over an hour away from Chico.  A neighbor witnessed the arson attack, 
called the police and detained the arson until police arrived.  When the 
police arrived, they allowed the arson to drive away.  This clinic has been 
the site of a number of antiabortion attacks and has been burned to the 
ground three times.

California is not the only state to suffer antiabortion terror.  The day 
after Britton and Barrett were shot and killed by Paul Hill, a clinic in 
Falls Church, VA was fire bombed.  On August 18, the Planned Parenthood 
clinic in Brainerd, MN was burned to the ground along with three other 
businesses after a brick was thrown through the clinic window and gasoline 
was sloshed inside.  Clinics were also attacked in Wyoming and Montana.

Most people in the prochoice community were convinced that the passage of 
the FACE law and RICO decision would stop the violence of antiabortion 
terrorists.  These events, as well as the murders of Dr. Britton and Mr. 
Barrett prove how useless these laws really are.  The government has 
routinely looked the other way while the rampage continues.

--After a firebomb leveled a clinic in Ashland, OR, the FBI refused to 
investigate after it ruled that the attack was not politically motivated.

--Linda Taggert, director of the Ladies Center, where Britton and Barrett 
were killed, pleaded with the FBI for weeks prior to the killings for the 

arrest of Paul Hill.  Hill was videotaped banging on the clinic windows, 
screaming at patients, in clear violation of FACE.  He was not arrested due 
to a "lack of evidence."  Four weeks later, the murders occurred.

--Even when Hill was supposedly under surveillance by state, local and 
federal authorities, he still managed to walk across a five-lane highway 
with a 12-gauge shotgun in broad daylight (with police present) to commit 
murder.

--After Fr. David Trosch of Mobile, AL came out in defense of Hill, and 
called for the execution of doctors, clinic defenders, women who have had 
abortions and anyone who helps provide the service in any way, the Center 
for Choice clinic staff in Mobile was questioned by the FBI.  After 
gathering material on Trosch and others who regularly harassed the clinic's 
patients, the clinic director was told the FBI couldn't use the material 
because of first amendment rights.  They only asked if a staff member "felt 
threatened" and, if so, "who by" - this after Trosch said he has no 
immediate plans to kill anyone, but the door was always open.

--An FBI agent told a clinic director in Ft. Wayne, IN, a site of frequent 
antiabortion attacks, that FACE is "virtually useless" and that the 
clinic's best bet is to operate under a secret address, like a battered 
women's shelter.

--Thirty anti-abortion protesters who blockaded a clinic in Little Rock, AK 
(Clinton's home town) on July 8 still have not been charged under FACE.

To put these events in perspective, imagine the government's reaction if 
banks or churches were routinely bombed, blockaded, their employees killed, 
their patrons harassed.  Certainly, the reaction would be far different!

It is clear that we cannot rely on the government to protect women's right 
to choose--we must protect it OURSELVES.  The government has NEVER 
protected the rights of the oppressed without serious pressure from the 
people, so let's get busy!  To find out what you can do, contact:

THE FIGHT BACK NETWORK

Some member organizations:

Refuse & Resist!                  BACORR
PO Box 15003                      The Bay Area Coalition for Our 
Atlanta, GA 30333                    Reproductive Rights
(612)649-4579                     750 LaPlaya #730
                                  San Francisco, CA 94121
                                  (415) 252-0750

     ABORTION ON DEMAND AND WITHOUT APOLOGY!!

     DEFEND ABORTION PROVIDERS BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY!!

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             PEOPLE BEFORE PROFITS!

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