President Clinton proposed a $4.5 million initiative to protect abortion clinics from anti-abortion violence today, on the 26th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court legalized abortion.
Under the initiative, security professionals would assess abortion clinics’ risk for attack, and money would be allocated to help clinics reduce or eliminate that risk through the purchase of closed-circuit camera systems, new lighting, motion detectors, alarm systems, bullet-proof glass and other security equipment.
Recommendations for the initiative were made by a Task Force on Violence Against Health Care Providers created last year after the murder of abortion provider Barnett A. Slepian of Amherst, NY.
Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal believes that the initiative will save lives, help to protect women’s right to choose, and help local law enforcement agencies recoup the high costs spent on responding to anti-abortion violence.
See Feminist Majority Foundation’s 1998 Clinic Violence Survey
