Barbara Kennelly: “on the day the Nation was horrified by the death of two young women in Massachusetts and the wounding of five others, we…”

“on the day the Nation was horrified by the death of two young women in Massachusetts and the wounding of five others, we in Connecticut were much more fortunate. The accused individual who carried out these murders, when he was arrested, was found to have the name of a Hartford, CT, clinic in his pocket. Hartford is in my district. Were we going to be the next ones? We do not know. We have no idea. We do know we have come to the point now when someone trying to exercise a constitutional right, might just be by chance be murdered. We do know also that any town or city that has a clinic in it is forced to spend additional tax dollars for protection of this clinic. The police chief in that town needs all the help he can get. The neighbors that live in an area, want dollars spent for public safety. The citizens going to that clinic certainly say they have a constitutional right to protection. So today, I thank the gentlewoman from Colorado for putting in this amendment. I do not think these citizens, these neighbors, these police chiefs, these individuals exercising their constitutional right are asking whether it is a public clinic or a private clinic. They are only asking for protection.”