There is a decision out today by a federal judge in Alabama (here that shows that at least one judge gets it. And by it, I mean the fact that the campaign of terror against abortion-providers is closely linked to the various legislative acts, in Mississippi, Alabama, and Texas (to my knowledge) that require that abortion clinics have on staff someone with "admitting privileges" at a nearby hospital.
Up to now, I had no real idea what "admitting privileges" means, but it turns out that it's not a legal requirement to practice medicine, it's more of a marketing and business decision by hospitals. There are no uniform standards, except that most (if not all) hospitals require that physicians with admitting privileges live within a certain geographical radius of the hospital, say 30 miles, or one hour driving distance, etc.
And here's where the terror part comes in.
Let's go back to the judge's opinion, starting on page 4:
Although the vast majority of those who oppose abortion do so in nonviolent ways, this court cannot overlook the backdrop to this case: a history of severe violence against abortion providers in Alabama and the
surrounding region.
In 1993, a gunman shot and killed Dr. David Gunn, an Alabama resident who provided abortions throughout the State and in northern Florida. Dr. Gunn was the first doctor in the nation to be murdered for performing abortions. He became identifiable after his name, photo, and contact information were displayed on an anti-abortion poster at a rally in Montgomery. The same gunman later killed Dr. Gunn’s replacement in northern
Florida, along with his guard, and also wounded that doctor’s wife.
A few years later, in 1997, a person opposed to abortion climbed onto the roof of the West Alabama Women’s Center in Tuscaloosa and dropped a lit flare into the air-conditioning unit. The flare lit the entire inside of the clinic on fire, causing over $ 400,000 of damage. The perpetrator of the arson was never identified.
The next year, a remote-controlThe next year, a remote-control bomb was detonated
outside New Woman All Women abortion clinic in Birmingham. The bomb killed a police officer standing outside the clinic and wounded a nurse who had just
walked out the clinic entrance. After a detailed investigation, the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms determined that the same individual responsible for the New Woman All Women bombing, Eric Robert Rudolph, also bombed another abortion clinic in the Atlanta area, a gay bar in Georgia, and, most notoriously, the 1996 Olympics.
In 2001, staff at the Pensacola clinic where Dr. Gunn had worked noticed a van circling the clinic. During a traffic stop, police noticed that there were a large number of semiautomatic weapons in the van but did not confiscate the weapons. Soon afterward, the van drove to Birmingham, where it began to circle the New Woman All
Women clinic. The driver was identified as an abortion opponent.
Five or six years ago, a man intentionally drove through the front of the Tuscaloosa clinics, eventually fleeing and engaging police in a chase. Most recently, in 2012, a Pensacola clinic was firebombed.
Nationally, during the same period of time, other abortion doctors have been murdered, other clinics have been bombed and burned, and abortion providers have
endured other, less dangerous forms of extreme harassment that exceed the boundaries of peaceful protest.
What this does is establish a climate of fear. Terrorism works. So far as I could tell, none of the doctors who were involved in the Alabama case actually lived in Alabama. They all lived out of state, one was in George, another in Chicago as I recall, and only came in to Alabama to work at the few remaining abortion clinics there.
The reason for this is quite simple: if you live in Alabama, the terrorists will kill you. Or make your life miserable. Or make your live miserable and then kill you.
Of course, living in Alabama is required to get admission privileges at the local hospitals.
What ... a ... coincidence ....