Freedom Writer - November 1995 BEST OF THE FREEDOM WRITER Terrorist war against abortion V

Freedom Writer - November 1995

BEST OF THE FREEDOM WRITER
Terrorist war against abortion

Violent attacks against abortion clinics continued 
to escalate in December. Letter bombs were mailed to 
clinics in Oregon and Ohio. Two clinics in Cincinnati 
received such extensive damage in firebomb attacks 
that they were forced to close.

In New York, a small bomb went off in a rest room at 
the Manhattan Women's Medical Center. One person was 
in the clinic when the bomb exploded. A caller had 
warned officials to evacuate the building. The City 
of New York has offered a $10,000 reward for the arrest 
and conviction of the person or persons responsible.

Dr. Martin Haskell, who owns one of the Cincinnati 
clinics, said: "Whoever did this is crazy. The rhetoric 
of these groups can motivate a crazy person to violence. 
Maybe someone who heard one of their speeches that 
abortionists have to be stopped decided to become the 
savior for the group." 

One of the clinics firebombed had recently been the 
site of picketing by a no-choice group. On December 
28, Roman Catholic Bishop John McGann lead a march 
of 100 priests, nuns, and several thousand parishioners 
in front of Bill Baird's facility in Hempstead, New 
York. The march was for "the Feast of the Holy Innocent 
and King Herod's slaughter of the babies."

"The struggle is getting fiercer and fiercer," Baird 
told _The_Freedom_Writer_. Baird stated that most Americans 
are oblivious to the "religious war" being waged over 
a woman's right to use birth control or have an abortion. 
"I think most of this nation is fast asleep," Baird 
said. "Sixty-two clinics have been blown up. Hundreds 
and hundreds have been invaded by anti-abortion people."

Baird said the nation must "stand up to these religious 
bullies and say once and for all, 'We demand a right 
to be free and we demand a right to birth control and 
the right to have an abortion without the interference 
of the Moral Majority or the Roman Catholic church.'"

History has taught us that religious fanatics will 
stop at nothing in the name of God. Although a vocal, 
and often violent, segment of these religious fanatics 
continue to force their theological views on the rest 
of society, the majority of Americans remain pro-choice 
on the issue.

_First_published_in_the_January_1986_Freedom_Writer_

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