USA – Ten years after abortion doctor’s murder, one woman carries the fight for reproductive rights

Ten years after abortion doctor's murder, one woman carries the fight for reproductive rights
In 2009, George Tiller was shot dead in Kansas. Today, as America’s discord over abortion reaches fever pitch, Julie Burkhart is keeping the flame alive

Ed Pilkington
Fri 31 May 2019

Julie Burkhart remembers all too vividly the morning of 31 May 2009. It was a Sunday and she was in a meeting in Washington DC when, shortly after 10am, her phone started buzzing incessantly with calls from her home town of Wichita, Kansas.

When she got through to one of her co-workers she thought at first he was making a surreal joke. George Tiller, her mentor with whom she had worked side-by-side for the past eight years at the frontlines of America’s abortion wars, had been accosted at Sunday service in his Wichita church and shot dead.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/may/30/he-gave-so-much-the-woman-fighting-the-abortion-wars-begun-by-george-tiller


USA: The Murderer Who Started a Movement

The Murderer Who Started a Movement
Michael Frederick Griffin’s killing of Dr. David Gunn ignited a war on abortion providers. He could soon be a free man.

By Dahlia Lithwick
Oct. 31, 2017

Dr. David Gunn was 47 years old when he was gunned down in 1993 during an abortion protest outside his clinic in Pensacola, Florida. Today we think of this as the first targeted killing of an abortion doctor in America—the murder that led to passage of the FACE Act, which made it a federal crime to block access to clinics. It also established the battle lines in an ever more violent and nihilistic war against abortion providers, one that has led to the murders of nearly a dozen more people in the decades since.

Michael Frederick Griffin reportedly shouted “Don’t kill any more babies” just before putting three bullets in Gunn’s back. While the doctor bled to death, Griffin calmly surrendered to the police, saying, “I just shot someone.” Those attending the protest with Griffin showed no alarm at the shooting, a witness told the Washington Post’s William Booth: “It looked like they were just happy.”

Continued at source: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2017/10/michael-frederick-griffin-killed-an-abortion-doctor-he-could-soon-be-a-free-man.html


US/UK: Life as an abortion doctor: ‘I practiced silently due to violence – until now’

Life as an abortion doctor: 'I practiced silently due to violence - until now'

Healthcare workers face harassment, abuse and - in some cases - death.
By Lydia Smith
March 9, 2017

It's difficult to imagine working in a job in which you face violence, abuse and even death, simply for providing essential healthcare to women. But this is the sad reality for so many doctors who provide family planning advice and carry about abortions – particularly in the US.

The vast majority of abortion providers prefer to hide their identities because of the risk of harassment, but there are a number of doctors who have waived anonymity – because of the desperate need to speak out about women's civil rights.

Continued at source: IB Times: http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/life-abortion-doctor-i-practiced-silently-due-violence-until-now-1610429


U.S.: Abortion Clinics Report Threats of Violence on the Rise

Abortion Clinics Report Threats of Violence on the Rise

Feb 13 2017
by Mary Emily O'Hara

A new report finds that anti-abortion violence last year was higher than it's been in 20 years — and now that newly confirmed conservative Republican Attorney General Jeff Sessions will oversee law enforcement initiatives that protect an providers from harm, many advocates are on edge.

According to the 2016 National Clinic Violence Survey published last Thursday by the Feminist Majority Foundation, 34.2 percent of U.S. abortion providers reported "severe violence or threats of violence" in the first half of 2016.

That number is up from 19.7 percent in 2014 — and before that, the highest recent peak came in 1995, with an average of 24 percent.

Continued at source: NBC News: http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/abortion-clinics-report-threats-violence-rise-n719426