Threats and Violence Against Abortion Providers Has Skyrocketed, According to FMF Survey

(and with the misogynistic, hate-mongering assholes now in power, it is only going to get worse as the woman-haters feel more empowered and entitled)


Threats and Violence Against Abortion Providers Has Skyrocketed, According to FMF Survey


The Feminist Majority Foundation (FMF) has released the results of the 2016 National Clinic Violence Survey, an analysis of the anti-abortion violence, intimidation and harassment that occurred at women’s health clinics across the country in the first six months of 2016. The survey found that the number of clinics that experienced the most severe types of threats and violence has skyrocketed since 2014, from 19.7 percent to 34.2 percent. Severe violence and threats include death threats, stalking, and blocking access to clinics. Half of the clinics in the United States (49.5 percent) experienced at least one incident of severe violence and/or severe harassment, such as break-ins or vandalism.

For example, in October of 2016 a Missouri man pleaded guilty to a federal charge of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance Act, which makes it a crime to intentionally damage a reproductive health clinic because of the services offered there, after he attempted to burn down his town’s Planned Parenthood clinic twice. In the same month, a Maryland man pleaded guilty to vandalizing a women’s healthcare facility, spray painting “Baby Killer,” “Kill Baby Here” and other comments on a Baltimore clinic in what he admitted was an attempt to intimidate women from accessing reproductive healthcare.

In addition to severe violence, threats and harassment, the survey found that the overwhelming majority of clinics (91.1 percent) experienced some type of anti-abortion activity—such as protesting—in the first half of 2016, with 63.2 percent of providers experiencing activity at least once a week, and a quarter of clinics experiencing it every day. FMF produced a spotlight video to accompany the release of the survey called “Walking the Gauntlet” to demonstrate the extreme tactics employed by the anti-abortion industry to intimidate patients, clinic staff and doctors in front of the clinic. These may appear to be ordinary protesters, but many are in fact trained operatives engaged in a systematic campaign to shut down access to women’s health clinics.

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Read the full 2016 National Clinic Violence Survey report here. http://feminist.org/anti-abortion-violence/images/2016-national-clinic-violence-survey.pdf

http://feminist.org/blog/index.php/2017/02/14/threats-and-violence-against-abortion-providers-has-skyrocketed-according-to-fmf-survey/