The July 22nd arson of the West Alabama Women’s Center clinic in Tuscaloosa, AL marks the 13th abortion clinic arson or bombing of 1997 – the highest rate of anti-abortion violence since 1984. The Tuscaloosa clinic sustained massive damage, estimated at $100,000, due to the early morning fire. The clinic has been plagued in the past by threats of domestic violence. Alarmed by the resurgent wave of abortion clinic arsons and bombings, Feminist Majority Foundation President Eleanor Smeal called for the government to classify the Tuscaloosa arson as “domestic terrorism,” and for more federal law enforcement investigative resources to prevent further losses like in Tuscaloosa, and earlier this year in Atlanta, Georgia; Oregon; North Carolina; Northern Virginia; Oklahoma; California and Montana. “These incidents of violence must not be examined in isolation, but as part of a larger pattern of terror and violence against women’s health clinics,” continued Smeal. “More investigative resources are needed to determine whether the double bombings in Atlanta claimed by the ‘Army of God,’ and the string of arsons across the country since, are connected.”
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