Louise Slaughter: “Mr. Speaker, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance Act, which passed both Houses of Congress late last year, a…”

“Mr. Speaker, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance Act, which passed both Houses of Congress late last year, a substantial vote in the Senate and unanimously here, was developed in response to the glowing problem of orchestrated violence at reproductive health clinics all across the Nation. In recent years, the level of this violence has escalated. The list is long and sad: vandalism, arson, bombing, gassing, physical attacks, death threats, shooting and murder against clinic staffs and their families as well as against the women who need the health services the clinics offer. The statistics tell a horrible story. Between 1977 and 1993, over 1,000 acts of violence were reported against clinics and health care providers that include 36 bombings, 18 arsons, 131 death threats, 84 assaults, two kidnappings, 327 clinic invasions, and one murder. Just last March, as was mentioned before, Dr. David Gunn was shot and killed, and his assailant was convicted last week and will spend most of his life now in jail. These acts of violence not only hurt those directly hit, they affect thousands of women who need the clinics for their health care.”