Abortion clinics regroup, rebuild after violent attacks: ‘There’s more work to be done’

Christine Fernando, USA TODAY
March 25, 2023

As a detective led her through the charred remains of the clinic, Julie Burkhart was heartbroken. Everything was black and melted. The smell was overwhelming. Fire and smoke damage had engulfed the building from the basement to the attic.

“I knew then that we were going to have a long road ahead,” said Burkhart, president of Wellspring Health Access in Casper, Wyoming.

Continued: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2023/03/25/abortion-clinics-violence-attacks-rebound-rebuilding/11484439002/


USA – The high price of abortion restrictions

The high price of abortion restrictions

By Julie A. Burkhart, opinion contributor
12/25/19

Abortion access is a crucial component of women’s health care. Without the ability to choose if, when, and how to give birth, women face obstacles to economic success, educational achievement, and overall health and well-being.

Restricting access to reproductive health care — including safe and legal abortion — comes at the price of high maternal and infant mortality rates, a price that anti-choice organizations ignore when they push for the ever more punitive abortion restrictions.

Continued: https://thehill.com/opinion/healthcare/475852-the-high-price-of-abortion-restrictions


USA – Violence against abortion clinics hit a record high last year. Doctors say it’s getting worse.

Violence against abortion clinics hit a record high last year. Doctors say it's getting worse.

By Kate Smith
Updated on: September 17, 2019

For one of the last abortion doctors in Missouri, harassment, stalking and death threats are a part of regular life. But this year, it's been worse than ever.

Colleen McNicholas, the chief medical officer at Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, is one of many providers who told CBS News they've seen an uptick in violence this year, both against themselves and their clinics. They say the increased harassment has coincided with newly enacted state laws restricting legal abortion and polarizing rhetoric surrounding the procedure.

Continued: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/violence-against-abortion-clinics-like-planned-parenthood-hit-a-record-high-last-year-doctors-say-its-getting-worse/


As Trump Fans the Flames of Anti-Abortion Rhetoric, Kansas Offers a Cautionary Tale

As Trump Fans the Flames of Anti-Abortion Rhetoric, Kansas Offers a Cautionary Tale

Jordan Smith
August 2 2019

A sheriff’s deputy was waiting in his car along Interstate 35 just outside Kansas City, Kansas, on the afternoon of May 31, 2009, when the powder-blue Ford Taurus rolled by.

The deputy pulled out behind the car and followed it. He took up two lanes and put on his hazards so no one would try to pass as he called for backup. Minutes later, a four-car posse pulled the Taurus over. Inside was 51-year-old Scott Roeder. He got out of the car with his hands raised. There was blood on his pants and one of his shoes.

Continued: https://theintercept.com/2019/08/02/anti-abortion-violence-kansas/


USA – 4 Independent Abortion Provider Staffers Open Up About Their Work & What Keeps Them Going

4 Independent Abortion Provider Staffers Open Up About Their Work & What Keeps Them Going

By Madhuri Sathish
Dec 17, 2018

Ever since Donald Trump assumed the presidency, the restrictions on abortion access have only been exacerbated. Many states have had to contend with abortion clinic closures, and conservative lawmakers continuously try to use religious exemptions, strict time limits, and financial threats to effectively make abortions impossible to access. But even as state legislatures attempt to crack down on abortion rights, independent abortion providers across the country tell Bustle that they have remained on the frontlines of reproductive justice work, despite the mounting challenges.

Continued: https://www.bustle.com/p/4-independent-abortion-provider-staffers-open-up-about-their-work-what-keeps-them-going-15525204


USA – Abortion clinics on edge after woman who shot Kansas doctor is released from prison

Abortion clinics on edge after woman who shot Kansas doctor is released from prison

By Judy L. Thomas
November 07, 2018

Abortion clinics across the country were taking extra precautions Wednesday after the anti-abortion activist who shot Wichita physician George Tiller in 1993 and committed a string of clinic attacks in several states was released from prison.

Rachelle “Shelley” Shannon, the Oregon woman whose actions once triggered a federal investigation into the possible existence of a national conspiracy of anti-abortion terrorists, had been living in a halfway house in Portland, Ore., since May. She has spent 25 years in custody.

Continued: https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article221194600.html