CLINIC VIOLENCE I: Feds Form Task Force To Investigate Recent Escalation The murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian
and anthrax hoaxes at eight abortion clinics have
prompted the Justice Department to form a multi-agency
task force to investigate violence against abortion
clinics and providers. Bill Lann Lee, head of the DOJ's
civil rights division, will lead the investigative team,
which will include prosecutors from the Attorney
General's office, civil rights investigators, the FBI,
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and local law
enforcement agents. USA Today reports that
federal officials cited "209 violent incidents at
abortion clinics since 1982, including eight incidences
of arson and four bombings this year." The DOJ's No.
3 official, Associate Attorney General Raymond Fisher,
said, "It is a very troubling development, because
you have women and health care providers who are engaged
in their perfect constitutional right ... and you have
violence which is being directed against these people. It
is not something we can tolerate." According to law
enforcement officials, the task force will be modeled on
the group convened in 1996 to investigate arsons at black
churches (Willing/Fields, USA Today, 11/6). The AP/Baltimore Sun reports that one of the task force's initial and primary focus "will be the anti-abortion website that lists 225 physicians who perform abortions along with their home and office addresses." The American Medical Association, in a meeting with DOJ officials this week, expressed specific concern about the website. Fisher said, "The AMA is quite concerned about it, so we will look at it. But whether there is a specific remedy for it, we don't know yet." Although "there is a very serious free speech issue," Fisher noted that "the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act contains provisions 'that allow us to deal with actual threats of violence.'" The AP/Sun reports that the task force will officially convene next week "when Attorney General Janet Reno returns from a short vacation" (11/6). Operation Rescue Alum The New York Times reports that federal law enforcement officials hope that James Charles Kopp, who is being sought for questioning in the Slepian case, "may provide ... a link" between recent violence at abortion clinics and "the hard-line anti-abortion protest groups that burst onto the national scene in the late 1980's." Kopp was an associate of Operation Rescue founder Randall Terry, and sources from Operation Rescue said that "Kopp was transformed into a hard-core anti-abortion militant in jail" during the group's "Siege of Atlanta" abortion clinic protests of 1988 (Risen, New York Times, 11/6). Click here for previous coverage of the Slepian murder and anthrax hoaxes. Features / Abortion / index (text version) CLINIC VIOLENCE II: Catholic Editor Refers To 'Positive Side Effects' A Roman Catholic newspaper editor in Canada wrote that murders of doctors who perform abortions "might have some positive side effects," the AP/Baltimore Sun reported. Paul Schratz, editor of the British Columbia Catholic, the official paper of the archbishop of Vancouver, wrote: "Murders of abortionists just might have some positive side effects. ... Fewer doctors are willing to face the stigma, and now the threat of personal harm, associated with performing abortions. It just goes to show that our all-powerful and all- loving God can bring good from any evil situation." The AP/Sun reported that Schratz also acknowledged that "the killing was wrong," by stating that "sin produces more sin." Rev. Jim Roberts, a Catholic priest, harshly rebuked Schratz in an interview with the Vancouver Sun. He said, "I find his remarks revolting and quite unbelievable. The idea of God kind of winking at murder, I find that blasphemous" (AP/Baltimore Sun, 11/5). Click here for past coverage of the Slepian murder Features / Abortion / index (text version) UNITED NATIONS: U.S. May Lose Seat On Key Committee For Abortion-Related Spending Bill Veto The United Nations is likely to nix a U.S. attempt to "regain a seat on the world's most powerful budget and spending committee" today, due to President Clinton's veto of a U.N. spending bill that included an anti-abortion gag clause, the Washington Times reports. The U.S. lost its seat on the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ) two years ago because of its unpaid debt, and a coalition of "Third World and European countries" are banding together to block a U.S. proposal to win the seat back. The Times reports that ACABQ "operates much like the House Appropriations Committee in recommending allocation of money and personnel for all U.N. departments and peace-keeping operations." Former Deputy U.S. ambassador to the U.N, Charles Lichenstein, said, "I don't think we should participate in the United Nations if we're no t on that committee" (Archibald, Washington Times, 11/5). Click here for previous coverage of U.N. funding. Features / Abortion / index (text version) |