On December 6, a federal jury found Clayton Waagner guilty of possession of firearms and auto theft, preventing him from carrying out his planned execution of abortion providers across the United States. He is being held without bond until his sentencing, set for March 16. Waagner pleaded insanity in this case, saying that god was sending him messages, instructing him to kill abortion providers. For months, he conducted surveillance of over 100 abortion clinics and doctors in 19 states, going so far as to compile a CD-rom with names of doctors and addresses of clinics that was found in the Winnebago he stole to carry him across the country on his killing spree. Waagner reportedly regrets being arrested before succeeding in murdering any abortion providers. He was en route to Seattle, where he planned to kill a doctor, when he was arrested in Illinois for stealing a Winnebago and police found four handguns under the driver’s seat.
Feminist Majority Foundation’s National Clinic Access Project (NCAP), and other pro-choice groups, played a key role in alerting clinics to Waagner and his plan. NCAP staff issued alerts to abortion clinics, and worked with federal law enforcement through the Justice Department to have Waagner arrested.
