Patty Murray: “Militant antiabortion activists have been waging a protracted campaign of violence against women's health clinics and…”

“Militant antiabortion activists have been waging a protracted campaign of violence against women's health clinics and the people who work in them over the past decade. The tally of violence over the past 12 years includes 123 cases of arson and 37 bombings in 33 States, and more than 1,500 cases of stalking, assault, sabotage and burglary, according to records compiled by the ATF and the clinics themselves. I think it is high time this Senate goes on record that we do not condone these acts of violence. Women's health care providers across the Nation are facing bombings, arson, kidnappings, and assaults. As they go to work each day, these health care providers must contemplate the possibility that an antichoice extremist will try to kill them. The shootings at clinics in Massachusetts and Virginia are only the most recent examples. One doctor in my State of Washington wrote to me recently and said: Every time I walked toward the building, I thought to myself that some antichoice terrorist could have set a bomb and that my life could be on the line. Fortunately, so far I have been able to work unimpeded, but with every assault on a clinic around the country, I worry about the safety of my staff as well as that of my patients. The next time a gun is fired, it could well hit a patient or staff member. The psychological toll all this takes on clinic staff is enormous, as you can well imagine.”