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Tue Aug 11, 2009 at 07:00 PM CDT
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Since the Supreme Court issued its decision on Roe v. Wade there has been a struggle in the United States over reproductive rights, and that struggle has included violence. This year for the first time since 1998 an abortion provider was murdered, and the rhetoric of the anti-choice movement has become increasingly vicious. After the murder of George Tiller in his church earlier this year, there is only one doctor in the country that specializes in late term abortions; Doctor Warren Hern is now the only place for women in the most difficult of circumstances to go if they need a late term abortion.
One of the most tragic things in the reproductive rights protest is the stories of women who have been actively involved in the anti-choice movement who then either desire or need an abortion. Those in the reproductive health care field have told me stories of patients that consider themselves pro-life but felt that their situation was justified. A doctor that performs abortion in Arkansas has told me stories of anti-choice protesters who would bring in their crying daughters to have an abortion at the very facility that they protested with the parents. In an article in Esquire magazine, Doctor Hern described one incident with a teenage patient:
"What brings you here? he asked. I have to have an abortion. Why? I'm not old enough to have a baby. But you told the counselor we should all be killed? Yes, you should all be killed. Why? Because you do abortions. Me too? Yes, you should be killed too. Do you want me killed before or after I do your abortion? Before."
There has been a discussion in the last few months of the extremism that has been surfacing in the public discourse over several issues and the most prominent of the issues is currently health care. The rhetoric from conservative lawmakers, commentators, and the blogosphere has been increasingly severe, although they have repeatedly denounced violence while invoking increasing vicious rhetoric. Across the country townhall meetings have erupted with constituents, who may have legitimate concerns, shouting down lawmakers and invoking violent and distasteful images; North Carolina Congressman Brad Miller received a death threat because of his support for the health care reform proposed by Congress.
However, this situation has been present in the reproductive rights debate for decades, and now that the relative calm of the Bush Administration is over another wave of violence may be around the corner. The murder of Doctor Tiller is not an isolated incident, nor was it perpetrated by a "lone wolf." Scott Roeder, the man accused of murdering Doctor Tiller, is involved in a fanatical network of anti-choice activist. According to a report by the Kansas City Star, since Roeder's arrest he has been visited in jail by the man behind the Army of God web site, two convicted clinic bombers, and several other radical anti-choice activists. One of the activists that visit Roeder said that they "support the shooting of George Tiller as justifiable homicide." This also comes after Roeder made a threat after Doctor Tiller's murder that there are "many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal."
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| However, in the months that have followed the murder of Doctor Tiller, the Department of Justice has scaled by measures to protect doctors that provide abortions. The U.S. Marshals Service was directed to protect reproductive health care providers by the White House, however, in Nebraska Leroy Carhart is not longer being protected by the U.S. Marshalls despite being targeted by groups such as Operation Rescue and Army of God. According to a report by RH Reality Check, pro-choice organizations are "deeply alarmed" by the removal of the U.S. Marshals, especially during a time when violence against medical professionals and staffs of women's health clinics is on the rise.
According to the National Abortion Federation (NAF), there have been 1,401 reported harassing phone calls and hate mail received by abortion providers this year (through April); the totally amount of harassing phone calls and hate mail received by abortion providers from 2006-2008 was 1,466. There have been more reported incidents of harassing phone calls and hate mail this year since 1999, when there was a reported 1,646 incidents. Also, Doctor Tiller's murder was the first murder of a reproductive health care provider since 1998, and if the threats are not taken seriously other reproductive health care providers may be at risk.
What those of us that are pro-choice need to realize is that while Roe v. Wade may have made abortion legal in the United States, the intimidation and terrorist activities have worked in limiting women's access to reproductive health care. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights, 24% of women in the United States travel 50 miles or more for abortion services; according to the Guttmacher Institute, the number of abortion providers in the United States has declined by 25% between 1992 and 2005 and 87% of counties lack an abortion provider. This problem is particularly acute in Texas; according to NARAL Pro-Choice America 93% of Texas counties have no abortion provider.
Why should we worry about a doctor having to wear a bullet proof vest, and patients having to drive from a time zone away only to have to walk through protesters and doors of bullet proof glass? Because what those that are against reproductive rights will not tell you are the stories of the women who are grateful for those doctors and who sometimes owe their lives to those doctors. The protesters who stand outside the gates of reproductive health clinics will tell you the stories of women who regret their abortions, but they will not tell you the stories of the women who do not regret the care that was given to them after making one of the most difficult decisions of their life.
This is not about pro-choice, or anti-choice, pro-abortion, or anti-abortion. This is about life; the life of women that do not see this debate in rhetorical platitudes but in real life colors that paint their lives with painful choices that they can make because of the brave souls like Doctor Tiller.
Political and Social Thought...
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