The Feminist Majority Foundation's National Clinic Access Project reports that, consistent with the previous year, one in five clinics experienced severe anti-abortion violence in 2001. Additionally, the annual Clinic Violence Survey shows that in the two years following the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, staff resignations due to violence dropped considerably, with only 5% of clincs reporting staff loss due to violence. A solid majority of clinics rated their local law enforcement response to clinic violence as excellent. Likewise, the same majority were less likely to report anti-abortion violence, harassment, and intimidation. Our National Clinic Access Project works hard to alert clinics of potential incidences of violence. The arrest of an FBI Ten Most wanted fugitive James Charles Kopp in late March comes after a devastating decision issued by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals on anti-abotion violence whereby "wanted" posters, "Deadly Dozen" posters, and the "Nuremberg Files" website targeting doctors and health care workers constiute free speech.

We continue our efforts to research the opposition. This summer, we travel to Wichita, Kansas during Operation Save America's "Summer of Mercy" event to support the pro-choice community in defending Dr. Tiller's clinic. The FMFworks closely with local pro-choice organizations in the Wichita Choice Alliance (WCA) as well as local, state, and federal law enforcement to provide security for all clinics and clinic workers. We are so proud to engage in a mission that enables Dr. Tiller to continue serving his patients. Rock 4 Choice Million 4 Roe Ms Acquisition

Women on Waves (WOW), a Dutch reproductive clinic that provides abortion and family planning services in international waters off the coast of countries where abortion is illegl, asked the FMF to assist with security measures for it's first voyage off the shores of Ireland. FMF helped to train volunteers and work with law enforcement. The ship is equipped to provide legal, safe abortions, 12 miles off-shore in international waters and hopes to bring worldwide attention to the fact that over 70,000 women die needlessly each year from illegal and unsafe abortions. In addition to security assistance, our Team assisted with organizing the more than 300 reports on the scene for press briefings and ship tours. Pro-choice forces had a major victory when the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals ruled unanimously in favor of the National Organization for Women in NOW vs. Scheidler. The Seventh Circuit upheld the lower cour ruling that anti-abortion extremists conspired illegally to close reproductive health clinichs, using threats and extortionate acts against doctors, clinic employees, and patients in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). Another major win for the pro-choice movement this month came from the NInth Circuit Court of Appeals when the Court agreed, in an unusual opinion, to review en bac the three-judge panel decision in Planned Parenthood of Columbia/Wilamette, et al. vs. American Coalition of Life Activists (ACLA), et al. also known as the Nuremberg Files case. Unfortunately,

FMF Afghan Women's Scholarship Recipient Fraiba Wakili addresses Feminist Expo 2000. Photo by D.Thomsen

US Marshals apprehended fugitive anti-abortion extremist and domestic terrorist Clayton Lee Waagner. Law enforcement officials captures Waagner outside of a Kinko's in Springdale, Ohio after receiving a tip from a Kinko's employee. Waagner escaped from an Illinois jail in February while awaiting sentencing. He was named the primary suspect in two rounds of more than 500 anthrax threat letters sent to abortion and family planning clinics nationwide.

FMF Board Member Dolores Huerta inspires the 6,000 feminists gathered for Feminsit Expo 2000.

Afghan Ministry of Women

Featured speakers include Eleanor Smeal; Gloria Steinem; bell hooks; Peg Yorkin, FMF Board Chair; Dolores Huerta, founder and secretary/treasurer of United Farm Workers; Robin Morgan, author, poet, and founder of Sisterhood Is Global Institute; "Cagney and Lacy" stars Tyne Daly and Sharon Gless; Gloria Feldt, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America; economist and syndicated columnist Julianne Malveaux; Sarah Weddington, Roe v. Wade lead attorney; Marcia Ann Gillespie, editor-in-chief of Ms. Magazine; Betty Friedan; Judge Navanethem Pillay, president of the International War Crimes Tribunal for Rwanda; Jordanian journalist Rana Hussaini; and Charlotte Bunch, director of the Center for Women's Global Leadership.

An impressive array of more than 500 women law enforcement leaders gathers for the National Center for Women and Policing's (NCWP) fifth annual conference, in conjunction with Feminist Expo 2000. The conference draws the largest crowd to date, with law enforcement agencies from 42 states and the District of Columbia, the Australian Council of Women and Policing, the British Association of Women Police and the European Network of Policewomen. The conference focuses on the urgent need for increasing the numbers of women in the ranks of law enforcement.

The Feminist Majority Foundation participates in the United Nations Beijing Plus Five Conference in New York, which reviews the progress the world has made on women's rights issues since the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women. FMF hosts several cutting-edge sessions for non-governmental organizations on extremism, mifepristone, and the impact of drugs, oil, and corruption on women's lives and foreign policy.

Male officers in the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) are involved in excessive force and misconduct lawsuits at rates substantially higher than their female counterparts, according to an FMF and National Center for Women and Policing study. The new report shows that the LAPD, currently in the midst of a scandal involving police domestic violence, false charges against citizens, and cover-up of police corruption, paid out $63.4 million in lawsuits involving male officers for use of excessive force, sexual assault, and domestic violence, compared to $2.8 million for female officers in excessive force lawsuits. The dollar value of payouts in cases of excessive force and misconduct involving male LAPD officers exceeded that of payouts involving female officers by a ratio of 23:1. And, male officers made up an even higher proportion of miscreants in lawsuit payouts involving killings (43:1) and assault and battery (32:1). Over the same period, male officers serving in a patrol capacity outnumbered women officers on patrol by a much lower ratio of only 4:1. FMF/NCWP's cutting-edge research highlights the importance of gender-balancing law enforcement units nationwide.

Feminists across the United States celebrate on September 28 when the Food and Drug Administration announces its approval of mifepristone for use in U.S. as a form of early abortion. At long last, science trumps anti-abortion politics and medical McCarthyism! FMF President Eleanor Smeal does extensive interviews with national media outlets, debating representatives of the National Right to Life Committee, American Life League, and Senator Tom Hutchinson (R-AR). FDA approval of this medical breakthrough also means that long-stalled and desperately needed trials on mifepristone's other uses such as treating uterine fibroid tumors, ovarian cancer, endometriosis, meningioma (brain tumors), and some types of breast cancer and other serious diseases and conditions that mostly affect women can finally move forward.