The New Woman, All Women Health Care Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, which suffered a fatal bombing the week after the 25th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, opened again just one week after the bombing. After the explosion on January 29 -- the first bombing of an abortion clinic that caused a death -- the Feminist Majority Foundation immediately dispatched staff to help the clinic re-open. "The only way terrorists will win is if we fail to reopen clinics after they have been hit. We will not be intimidated," proclaimed Kathy Spillar, National Coordinator of the Feminist Majority Foundation.

Feminist Majority Foundation staff, including Spillar, Alice Cohan, Justine Andronici, and Nancy Kohsin Kintigh, cleaned up damage to the clinic, acted as a liaison to law enforcement, assisted the clinic staff, and organized press interviews. The Feminist Majority Foundation's National Clinic Access Project funded new security improvements for the clinic. Susan Hill, President of the National Women's Health Organization and owner of seven abortion clinics, came to Birmingham to assist the clinic and to coordinate offers of help from medical staffs of other clinics around the country. Every clinic worker returned to work -- none had quit as a result of the violence.

Police officer Robert Sanderson, who worked as a guard for the New Woman, All Women Health Care clinic in Birmingham, was killed by the bomb. The clinic's head nurse, Emily Lyons, lost sight in one eye, was severely injured in the other and in her face, legs, and abdomen by the bomb. The bomb was packed with nails and placed just outside the door of the clinic. It exploded at 7:30 am, just as staff was arriving to open the clinic. "This bomb was meant to maim and kill people -- not to cause much damage to the building," said Spillar. "If it had exploded just a few minutes later, when the clinic was open, patients and staff in the waiting room and reception area would have been injured or killed."

The Army of God underground terrorist group sent letters to the media postmarked the day of the bombing and mailed from Birmingham, claiming responsibility for the bomb, and threatened further violence. The letter also refers to the French abortion pill, RU-486, that is being offered through clinical trials throughout the United States: "We will target anyone who manufactures, markets, sells and distributes (sic) the pill," the letter stated. The Army of God previously claimed responsibility for the bombing of the Atlanta Family Planning Services clinic in January 1997 and the Otherside gay and lesbian nightclub in Atlanta in February 1997.

Police are searching for a thirty-one year old white man named Eric Robert Rudolph, whose truck was seen leaving the scene of the explosion. The truck, a 1989 gray Nissan pickup truck with North Carolina plates KND-1117, was found in the mountains in North Carolina. Investigators have found bomb components which might link Rudolph to the Atlanta clinic bombing as well as the Birmingham explosion. News reports reveal Rudolph was a follower of the Christian Identity, a white supremacist religion. Anyone with leads on suspects should call the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms at 1-888-ATF-BOMB.

The family of Emily Lyons, the nurse who was injured in the bombing, is requesting that people send e-mail messages to her at:emily@net800.com. €