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Last revised: May 18, 1997
NOBODY'S BODY BUT MINE
Clinic Terrorism - Part II
by Beth Grimes
Although abortion is still legal a woman with an unwanted pregnancy has to confront many barriers when she wants to terminate the pregnancy. Of all the obstructions to her access to abortion, the most threatening is the campaign of terror being waged against women's clinics across the country.
The April 19th explosion that destroyed the federal building in Oklahoma City and killed hundreds of people stunned the nation. For the first time, mainstream America is confronted by the fact that there are thousands of our own citizens who are armed, dangerous and organized in paramilitary groups called "militias".
In the wake of the Oklahoma blast, we were reminded of the bombing, arson and chemical attacks on women's clinics, the murders of doctors and clinic staff members. There have been more than 1,000 such assaults on clinic property and personnel since the Roe v. Wade decision. Are there links between the militia movement and attacks on clinics? You bet there are!
According to Paul de Armond, a researcher in the northwest who has studied the militia phenomenon, the militias are comprised of people who support several overlapping rightwing ideological issues. They are anti-gun control, anti-gay, anti-abortion, anti-immigrant, anti-environmentalist and anti-Semitic. They are white supremacists, tax resisters, and supporters of the "Wise-Use" movement.
Each organization seems to have a somewhat different focus with one militia emphasizing one issue, another a different concern. Many of them put most of their attention on abortion.
At a U.S. Taxpayers Party convention in Wisconsin, militia literature was handed out advocating the use of violence and force. The same convention hosted a presentation by anti-abortion activist Matthew Trewhella. Trewhella is a Christian Right militia leader. A quote from this man's comments will give readers an idea of how Trewhella thinks and how he passes on his values to the next generation. He advised his church members to..."do the most loving thing...buy each of your children an SKS rifle and 500 rounds of ammunition..." He bragged about how he teaches his toddler: "My son Jeremiah..I grab his trigger finger, and he's sixteen months old, and if you ask him 'Jeremiah, where's your trigger finger?' - he'll go like this immediately". (As reported by Planned Parenthood Federation of America.) Nothing like handing down those Christian family values! With training like that, by the time he's school age, little Jeremiah will undoubtedly be a good enough shot to wipe out a targeted doctor who renders abortion services to women.
Although looking into the minds and hearts of these fanatics has all the appeal of peering into a pit of writhing vipers, it's important to know where these people stand and what they may be planning for the nation. The activities of Richard Butler, who joined a Christian Identity Church in the late seventies are revealing.
Butler was chosen to lead a group called the Christian Defense League. He designed a uniform for the men to wear to church and ceremonial functions - a light blue shirt with SS-like insignia on the collars, dark blue pants, black belts with straps crossing over the left shoulder. During church service, Butler wearing a dark blue suit with an Aryan Nations patch on the left shoulder would extend his right arm up and out in a salute. The congregation would rise and salute, then join in reciting a slightly altered Pledge of Allegiance, saying "...one Aryan nation, under God..."
In one of his sermons, Butler preached, "You don't have anybody today who is a man, who has stood up for his race...You haven't been conquered by the sword of the Jew. Of the black. By the Mexican. By the Asians...You were deceived by your own weakness and allowed 19 million of your babies to be butchered by abortion."
Well, there we have it. Butler and others who think like him are not opposed to abortion out of some great love for babies. These people care about increasing the numbers of white, Christian (their kind of Christian) babies - Aryan babies.
Haven't we heard this kind of talk before? I seem to recall it was in the late thirties and the forties. There was this Austrian guy with a stupid little mustache who led Germany into perpetrating a huge bloodbath. What was his name? Adolf something?
In 1991, a man opened fire with a shotgun at a clinic in Springfield, Missouri and injured two workers. One of the two victims is paralyzed.
On March 10, 1993, Dr. David Gunn was shot by anti-abortion fanatic Michael Griffin outside the Pensacola, Florida, clinic where the doctor worked.
In September, 1994, Dr. John Britton and clinic escort James Barrett, Retired AF Lt. Col., were murdered by Paul Hill. Barrett's wife, June, another escort was wounded in the attack. In December, 1994, in Brookline, Massachusetts, Shannon Lowney, clinic receptionist, and Lee Ann Nichols, receptionist at another clinic were shot and killed by John Salvi the same day.
Is it any wonder clinics have experienced a wave of resignations by their staff? In 1994, in 25 percent of clinics, it was a doctor who resigned. 42 percent of those who quit were nurses and 32 percent were administrators or staff assistants.
We need to realize that the right to make our own decisions about having children, is under serious assault. And we must ask ourselves if we are willing to watch our freedom of conscience disappear into the hands of determined fanatics.
Resources include "Turning the Tide, Vol. 7, Dec., 1994" and "The Silent Brotherhood" by Kevin Flynn and Gary Gerhardt, reporters for the Rocky Mountain News, Denver, CO. Other resources: California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League
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