Health Clinic Protection

Since 1993, three reproductive health clinic doctors, two employees, an escort, and a security guard have been murdered by anti-choice forces in the United States. In fact, since 1977, there have been over 5,000 reported acts of violence against abortion providers, including bombings, arsons, death threats, kidnappings, and assaults, and almost 115,000 reported acts of disruption, including bomb threats and harassing calls.1

This conduct is part of a deliberate effort to curtail women’s access to abortion by terrorizing healthcare providers and closing clinics. As a result, physicians and other clinic workers must take extraordinary measures for their patients, their facilities, and themselves. Clinics spend thousands of dollars on bulletproof glass, armed guards, security cameras, metal detectors, and other security measures. Clinic workers have been instructed by federal marshals to vary their routes to work and to call police if they receive a suspicious package. This campaign of violence and intimidation instills fear in and imposes undue burdens on those who seek and provide reproductive health care. Preventing acts of domestic terrorism against reproductive health clinics and providers must be part of our country’s effort to eliminate all forms of terrorism.

A severe and escalating shortage of physicians who are trained, qualified and willing to provide abortion services has drastically diminished access in some areas. Eighty-seven percent of counties and 97 percent of non-metropolitan areas have no providers.2 One quarter of women who seek an abortion must travel 50 miles to reach the nearest provider—and one in ten must travel 100 or more miles.3 In addition, clinic directors can have a difficult time hiring and retaining office staff because of daily threats and harassment from anti-choice activists.

In 1994, Congress enacted the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE), which provides both civil and criminal penalties for violent or threatening tactics used by abortion opponents. Fifteen states (CA, CO, KS, ME, MD, MA, MI, MN, MT, NV, NY, NC, OR, WA, WI) and the District of Columbia have also enacted some form of clinic protection law. Connecticut uses its state racketeering prohibition to protect clinics from organized violence.

The percentage of clinics that experience severe violence has declined overall since FACE became law, and the percentage of clinics with no anti-abortion violence, harassment or intimidation rose from 33 to 56 percent between 1994 and 2002.4

Federal and state clinic protection laws have been repeatedly upheld by the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled in 2000 that Colorado’s clinic protection statute does not violate the First Amendment right to free speech.5

Massachusetts and Colorado have enacted laws to provide a zone of privacy between patients and demostrators, allowing patients to safely seek the services they need without intimidation or unwanted physical encounters with aggressive protestors. A zone of personal space provides an essential buffer against physical or psychological threat, and ensures patients’ privacy and access to reproductive health services.

In 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a decision that allowed use of federal racketeering prohibitions to protect clinics from organized violence. It is now more important than ever that states pass clinic protection laws. Because only the federal government can bring a criminal FACE case, states must enact their own FACE laws to ensure that access to reproductive health services is unfettered by violence and terrorism. States can also establish task forces on violence against reproductive healthcare providers; authorize funds for reproductive health facilities to upgrade security; require attorneys general to collect and analyze information relating to anti-reproductive rights crimes; and develop plans to prevent such crimes, report them when they occur and prosecute perpetrators.