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  • Title: Clamping down on clinic violence.
    Journal: Sun; 1993 Nov 16; ():18A. PubMed ID: 12345222.
    Abstract:
    The editorial remarked that anti abortion groups using violence must be stopped through legislation currently under consideration by the House and Senate of the US Congress. An important distinction is made between expressing freedom of speech on a deeply held belief and intimidation and violence that directly impacts on the rights of others. Women's health clinics where abortions are performed have repeatedly been the setting for intimidation and violence. There have been over 1000 reports of violence against these facilities and the people working at abortion centers since 1977. The most extreme act was the March 1993 murder of Dr. David Gunn outside a Pensacola, Florida, clinic and the wounding in August 1993 of a doctor in Wichita, Kansas. Unfortunately, the clinic violence not only interfere with abortion seekers, but also interferes with normal routine procedures such as Pap smears, prenatal care, well baby visits, and contraceptive counseling. Politically motivated violence antagonizes many women who rely on these clinics as the only source of care. The House and Senate bills would make it a federal criminal act to use force or physical obstruction to prevent a woman from getting an abortion or to damage a medical facility that provides abortion-related services. The Senate voted November 16, 1993 and the House vote will follow within the week. Anti abortion activists have cited the change to a pro-choice president as one of the reasons for the increase in violence against clinics, which amounted to a tripling of acts between 1990 and 1992. It is quixotic that movement to protect life would use extreme acts such as murder to protect life. Persuasion and appeals to hearts and minds would serve the abortion foes better as a viable strategy in the exercise of their right of free speech.
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