Prominent national leaders of the anti-abortion extremist movement are gathering in New Orleans, including Operation Rescue National leaders Randall Terry, who is recently released from prison, as well as Keith Tucci, Flip Benham, and Frank Pavone.
In the wake of the brutal murders of two women workers at abortion clinics in Brookline, Massachusetts, the National Clinic Defense Project has launched a Women's Health Center HOTLINE. The HOTLINE - coordinated by a professional security firm - will provide clinics with emergency assistance and expert information on personal security and physical safety at clinic facilities.
In another significant development, the family of Dr. David Gunn, the first abortion doctor murdered by an anti-abortion terrorist, filed a wrongful death suit against anti-abortion extremist John Burt of Pensacola, Florida, Rescue America, for which Burt serves as a regional director, Our Father's House, and Shadowlands. Burt is director of both Our Father's House, a "home" for unwed pregnant girls, and Shadowlands.
The landmark suit claims the murder of Dr. Gunn outside a Pensacola clinic two years ago was "carried out with Burt's encouragement and assistance." The suit was filed by attorney Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who has won two similar cases against the Ku Klux Klan in Alabama and a white supremacist group in Oregon.
"Following the conviction of Michael Griffin for the murder of Dr. Gunn, David Gunn, Jr. and I called on law enforcement to investigate and bring to justice all those who may have been involved in the murder," said Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority Foundation. "Unfortunately, the government has not acted. But thankfully, Dr. Gunn's family and the Southern Poverty Law Center have acted."
Immediately after the Brookline murders, the Feminist Majority demanded that the U.S. Department of Justice rigorously enforce the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and provide greater protection for targeted doctors and clinics, as well as an expanded, full scale federal investigation of anti-abortion terrorism.
" We are waiting for the next murder, unless stronger federal law enforcement efforts are forthcoming," warned Smeal followin- a round of meetings with the Department of Justice, the FBI, and U.S. Marshal officials. "To date, there have been no arrests under the FACE law for death threats, even though death threats are specifically prohibited by FACE. Almost 25% of clinics are experiencing death threats."
Anti-abortion zealots who advocate "justifiable homicide" of abortion doctors are continuing to terrorize doctors in their homes, including twelve doctors targeted as "The Deadly Dozen."