She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named Doesn't Consider Bombing a Women's Health Clinic Terrorism

Back in the day before I had health insurance, I received the bulk of my health care at the wonderful Boulder Valley Womens Health Center. If my appointment happened to fall on the day when Operation Rescue was protesting, I would have to walk through people spitting at me, yelling at me, calling me a baby killer, throwing photographs of fetuses at my feet, and basically making the process of trying to get my cholesterol and blood sugar numbers as difficult as possible. I, personally, always relished the opportunity to face down the protesters. I held my head up high, smiled at them, and walked right on past. As long as they remained at a safe and legal distance, it was within their right to scream whatever popped into their head, no matter how disrespectful, cruel, or outright crazy.

But anyone who doesn't think they are there to terrorize patients is making a huge miscalculation. They are there to make patients feel unsafe and to attempt to make women feel ashamed, not only about their bodies, but their sexuality. That, in my opinion, is an outrage.

Organized protest is considered by the right to life movement as the tip of the spear. The real terrorism is found in bombings and assassinations:

• Dr. Barnett Slepian and Robert Sanderson (killed in 1998)


• Dr. Jack Fainman and another unnamed physician (wounded in 1997)


• Dr. Hugh Short (wounded in 1995)


• Dr. John Bayard Britton, James H. Barrett, Shannon Lowney and Leanne Nichols (killed in 1994)


• Dr. Garson Romalis and five others (wounded in 1994)


• Dr. David Gunn (killed in 1993)


• Dr. George Tiller (wounded in 1993)

When She-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named refuses to use the label "terrorists" to describe the people who perpetrate violence against physicians and their patients, make no mistake regarding her intention. She is not simply using dog-whistle code under a winking guise, she is broadcasting loud and clear to the anti-choice fanatics that their actions will be given a pass and that in her, they have finally found a leader who will support their agenda.

See it for yourself:

Thanks to Meteor Blades over at the Daily Kos for the list of those killed by Anti-Choice terrorists