SIGN UP FOR JOBS NEWS & ALERTS:

1995 Clinic Violence Survey Report

Table of Contents | Methodology | Key Findings | Violence Declines | Levels of Violence | Death Threats, Home Picketing, and Stalking | Decreases in Violence | One in Ten Clinics Lose Staff | One in Five Clinics Reported FACE Violations | Law Enforcement Response Improved | Levels of Violence Correlate with Law Enforcement Response | Legal Protectioins | Conclusions | Appendix A | Appendix B

As Chart 2 shows, 22.3% of clinics in 1995 experienced one type of violence, 10% reported two types, 4.2% were the targets of three types of violence, and .9% experienced four or more types of violence. Chart 2 also compares 1995 levels of violence with 1993 and 1994.

Chart 2. Levels of Anti-Abortion Violence, 1993-1995

Both the 1995 and 1994 surveys also measured additional types of violence: vandalism, home picketing, and gunfire. When these variables are incorporated, the percentage of clinics that experienced violence in 1995 grows to 55.8%. In 1994, 66.7% of clinics were the targets of one or more of these ten types of violence.

Collapsing the twelve violence variables into three levels of violence further revealed the decline in intensity of violence between 1995 and 1994. In 1995 14.2% of clinics were heavily targeted experiencing a high level of violence (3 or more types), compared with 22.2% in 1994. In the 1995 survey, 41.6% reported a moderate level of violence (1 or 2 types); 44.5% experienced moderate levels of violence in 1994. In 1995, 44.2% of clinics had not experienced any of these types of violence; one third (33.3%) of clinics in 1994 indicated they had not faced anti-abortion violence.

Violent acts against clinics and health care workers were nationwide. The survey, however, revealed especially severe anti-abortion violence in Alabama, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts, North Dakota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin.