Dr Tiller's death won't stop us

Heather Corinna

"As terrifying as George Tiller's assassination was, violent assault is nothing new to people who work in abortion clinics

All of us who work at abortion clinics, or as abortion or reproductive rights educators or advocates, know we do so at risk. Women who come to our clinics as clients know that they may be at risk. The killing of Dr George Tiller at his church on Sunday is tragic and upsetting, but such assaults are neither surprising nor new. We didn't become scared for the first time on Sunday. We've always been afraid; we have always had cause to be afraid.

The clinic I work for part-time had a branch firebombed three times in 1983. In 1988, via Operation Rescue, intense harassment of children from demonstrators forced us to close our on-site clinic childcare centre for clients and staff. And our clinic, despite being one of the 40 or so in the US which provides terminations through the second trimester, as Tiller's did, could well be counted as one which has it easy. We haven't had an incident of violence for some time. We do not wear bullet-proof vests to work. None of our providers have yet been shot.

The Patriot Act is not something I support, but anti-abortion violence fits squarely in its definition of domestic terrorism. Vandalising or bombing clinics; stalking, assaulting staff, clients or providers; publishing the home addresses of providers or staff, names, photos and school addresses of their children to aid stalking; outcries for a war: all of this anti-abortion activity and more could be classed as terrorism by the definitions our government uses..."

There is a violent war going on right now in the heart of America. It is a declared war. It is a vicious war. It is a war right out in the open. And yet the American Press says nothing.

Nothing.

By every definition of Terrorism, the Evangelical Christian War against Abortion Clinics is Terrorism: They rant, rave, threaten, and act against a series of procedures that are legal in this country.

This is homegrown terrorism and to treat it any less is an insult to the people who have been tortured by the actions and words of people like James Dobson--Focus on the Family; Bill O'Reilly-Republican goon; and Randal Terry-Operation Rescue, to name just a few.

THIS...IS....TERRORISM!

And yet, it is treated as just another aberrant action of a single individual. The killer is charged with murder, rather than Terrorism. Why?

I suspect it is because the rich and powerful who make our laws are in collusion with these particular terrorists.

And because there is a mythology in this country that our own citizens could never be culpable of terrorism. A mythology that says we are a people of law and order and therefore are only capable of peaceful protests.

American is one of the most violent countries on this planet, and yet citizens still cling to the ridiculous notion that terrorism can not exist among our fellow citizens.