anti-clinic violence

A Des Moines anti-abortion activist has had repeated contact with the man accused of killing Kansas doctor George Tiller in May, and is even working on a legal strategy for him that he believes will result in acquittal.

PBS has produced an exceptional segment about violence and harassment targeting abortion providers, asking whether Dr. George Tiller's killing was an act of domestic terrorism and what the effect of decades of violence has on women's access to the procedure.

The Bush Administration rarely used the existing law to prevent and combat violence against clinics and providers of abortion and other reproductive health services.

In a resolution that passed 423 to 0, the House of
Representatives condemned the murder of my friend Dr. George Tiller. Now it is
the Senate’s turn.

Senators Jeanne Shaheen, Amy Klobuchar, and Barbara Boxer
have introduced a Senate version of the House’s resolution. They
need our help to convince their colleagues to sign on.

But these resolutions are just the beginning. Congress
has much more to do.

The feds will probably stop short of investigating Tiller's murder as a terrorist attack. That designation would unleash vast federal powers to investigate large swathes of the radical anti-choice movement.

Rachel Maddow guest Frank Schaeffer says that while he doesn't think that more extreme wings of the anti-choice movement collaborated with alleged killer Scott Roeder or knew he planned to murder Dr. George Tiller, anti-choice groups do know who commits vandalism against clinics, who glues the doors shut, who might plan to throw firebombs.

Dr. Marianne Knox is a young abortion provider working in the South -- defying statistics, and the fear factor.

A new site provides resources for individuals to share their personal stories about abortion, donate and communicate with others in the reproductive health community.

In an extensive interview with the office manager "Jeffrey Peterson" of the Central Family Medicine Clinic in Kansas City, Rachel Maddow last night established that Roeder had repeatedly visited and vandalized that clinic -- a federal crime under the FACE Act, that the FBI had been alerted to Roeder's harassment of that clinic, and that the FBI did nothing about it.

Are laws like the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act enough to ensure that anti-clinic, anti-provider violence ends?