Abortion is legal in the U.S. and has been since 1973. It is a necessary procedure to allow women to have control over their health and reproductive rights. No one should be allowed to make this private medical decisions for any woman. Those decisions should remain between a woman, her family and her health care providers.

Anti-abortion advocates have settled for the next best thing. If you can’t make abortion illegal, just make it impossible to get by intimidating doctors to quit performing the procedure and harass abortion clinics into closing. Fewer doctors and fewer clinics mean less availability of reproductive services to women.

Those extremists who set the tone for hate and violence should not be the socially acceptable group. They should be equated with other hate groups, such as the KKK. Belonging to and supporting these groups should be shameful. Being a patient, clinic employee or doctor should not be shameful.

Interview with Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Associate Professor at Princeton University:

Anti-abortion extremists operate in the open and get away with these actions all the time. Little seems to be done until severe acts of violence occur. This must stop, and it looks like the Obama justice department is stepping up to enforce the relevant laws in this matter.

No one, pro-choice or pro-life, likes it that abortion procedures have to exist. Those who are legitimately pro-life and want to find ways to reduce as many abortions as possible and take part in a real debate are free to do so, and this is a legitimate debate. But when a culture of intimidation and violence is allowed to continue, that is where they cross the line.

Doctors and other providers should be able to train for and perform abortions in medical practice without fear of harassment and being murdered. Women should not be subject to harassment and made to feel shame about something that is a private medical concern. It is not anyone’s business except the patient and doctor when a decision about having the procedure must be faced for whatever reason.

Women are not second class citizens whose only job is to be incubators. No embryo or fetus has or should have more value as a human life than the woman carrying that embryo or fetus. A woman should be and currently is able to choose to terminate a pregnancy based on her own needs, beliefs and ability to make informed decisions.

The anti-choice movement and government should not be permitted into these private decisions, which should stay between women, their physicians and health care providers, and their families. No group should be allowed to intimidate women and health care providers of abortions because they violate a family’s privacy rights and the privacy rights of the doctor-patient relationship.

Narrowly looking at family planning clinics as abortion clinics neglects the fact that they provide much needed health screening services (PAP smears and breast exams) to millions of women who can’t afford to receive this care through the usual doctor’s office setting.

Demonizing birth control as a form of abortion and not permitting sex education are beyond ridiculous, let alone illogical, in preventing abortions from unwanted pregnancies. Abstinence only does not work as a form of birth control.

How is it that these anti-abortion extremists and their associated groups can call themselves pro-life? They murder people and harm others in the attempt. They are death penalty proponents. How do these beliefs constitute protection of life?

Once these babies are born, extremist groups no longer care about them. These babies may become children on Medicaid and food stamps, and part of a class of people these extremists detest. The extremists don’t want to provide any assistance to families to feed, clothe, shelter, provide medical care for and educate these children.

If the family is already in poverty, this child may die in infancy because our infant mortality rate is significantly higher within our poor population than it should be, given we are the richest country in the world. Our overall IMR is unacceptably high no matter what demographic of the population to which a woman belongs. How do these actions constitute protection of life?

A woman may need to seek a late pregnancy abortion because continuation of the pregnancy is threatening her life or harming her health permanently. What if she already has a husband and children to care for? How can a mother choose to give up her life and responsibilities to her living children to die during a pregnancy?

She may have cancer that can’t wait for the baby to be born before she starts treatment that would surely seriously harm or kill the fetus. If she waits, she will die. The fetus may be severely deformed or will be born with a fatal disease that will painfully kill the child after its birth. She may be carrying a dead fetus and her obstetrician may refuse to induce labor to allow her to deliver it at the time of demise. An abortion of the dead fetus would allow her and her family to go forward with the funeral and grieving process.

The woman in question may not be a woman at all, but a girl of age 10 or 11 who was raped and didn’t tell anyone until the pregnancy had progressed too far for an early pregnancy abortion. Is the child’s life of less value than the fetus she carries?

None of these situations is my choice. The point is no one should have the right to make these extremely difficult choices for anyone else. The abortion health care services needed to serve women who have made these tough decisions should be reasonably available to them without intimidation, harassment or fear.

Women in America have the right to a safe and legal abortion. Strategies and tactics that take away the availability of a legal abortion performed by a physician trained in the procedure must be removed as obstacles to women seeking reproductive services.

Technorati Tags: abortion, abortion is legal, abortion must be available, domestic terrorism, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Rachel Maddow, reproductive rights

Rachel Maddow reviews the history of terrorist violence surrounding the anti-abortion movement in the following video:

What is the strategy to stop them? Do we have a strategy? Can we stop all of them?

There is a federal task force specially designated to protect abortion clinics and doctors. But in a free society, we may not be able to stop all of these attacks. It would require a totalitarian state to guarantee no more attacks or murders take place. We don’t want to give up our civil liberties like we did after 9/11 for protection from all domestic terrorists, especially rogue terrorists who may be operating alone. It’s a very fine line that we must walk carefully to preserve our civil liberties while enforcing the federal laws already in place to their full extent.

Technorati Tags: abortion, domestic terrorism, history of anti-abortion movement in America, Rachel Maddow

Terrorism of any kind is unacceptable and those taking part in it should be subject to investigation, arrest and punishment to the full extent of the law.

There are two factions of the pro-life movement: legitimate, peaceful, pro-life activists and advocates who take part in the honest debate about abortion, and the anti-abortion anti-choice faction who incite and participate in crimes and violence.

This article is not directed toward the legitimate pro-life movement. Those who take part in honest debate about this important and volatile issue should be encouraged to continue the conversation.

This article is directed at the second group, the ones who condone violence and crime to impose their anti-choice ideals on others against federal law and in violation of their civil rights.

Anti-abortion extremist, Scott Roeder, is being named a hero in the anti-abortion movement, and the death of Dr. George Tiller is being celebrated by these people. They believe murder and destruction of abortion facilities are the only way to stop abortions. They have decided there is no legal way to change the law, so they resort to vigilantism and violence.

They also believe that they should have the right to impose their beliefs on private family matters that belong between a woman, her family, and her doctors and other health care providers.

No one likes the fact that abortion is a necessary medical procedure. If we could end unwanted pregnancies and have the technology to successfully protect women’s lives and health during pregnancies that currently lead to abortions, the number of abortions could be significantly reduced. But this isn’t the reality with which we currently live.

There is no black and white on the abortion issue. It is a complex issue full of gray areas. The anti-abortion movement would have you believe it is a simple black or white choice. Nothing could be further from the truth.

A woman may need to seek a late pregnancy abortion because continuation of the pregnancy is threatening her life or may harm her health permanently. What if that woman has a husband and other children? Is it realistic to risk her life when it is so important to her living family? It isn’t our choice or any of our business. It belongs within that family to make the choice that is best for them.

Interview with Vicki Saporta, National Abortion Federation President:

Anti-abortion extremists target abortion providers and they are a well-organized movement according to the National Abortion Federation. Operation Rescue, The Lambs of Christ, The Army of God, and many more organizations mobilize violent protests, use inflammatory language and set the environment for those who are willing to commit vandalism, bombings, shootings, and murders.

Even the constant silent vigils held outside of abortion clinics, although non-violent, are designed to harass and intimidate doctors, providers and patients. They overstep the bounds of freedom of speech and assembly. Their purpose is not to lobby the government to change the law.

Scott Roeder was one of the people ignored by the FBI when he vandalized an abortion clinic several times over several years and directly before he allegedly murdered Dr. George Tiller. He had a history of violence against abortion clinics starting in 1996. He was known by clinic staff and found on security tapes while gluing the doors of the clinic shut.

Why did the FBI continue to allow Scott Roeder to vandalize abortion clinics in clear violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) act of 1993 and not arrest him? Good question.

Violation of the FACE act is a federal crime. A first offense is punishable by 6 months in federal prison. A second offense is punishable by 18 months in federal prison. The Clinton Administration Justice Department actively enforced the FACE act. The Bush Administration Justice Department nearly stopped enforcing the law entirely. Extremely few prosecutions occurred and arrests that should have been made were never made over the past 8 years.

Why wasn’t Roeder on the FBI’s radar? How did this guy fall through the cracks? What can be done to reduce or eliminate these crimes without giving up our civil liberties?

Enforcing the current law would go a long way in stopping those who commit smaller crimes from going on to commit more violent crimes, such as attempted murder and murder. Those who are involved in the legitimate pro-life movement could also take it upon themselves to turn in those they know who are planning to commit or have committed crimes against abortion clinics before they commit more severe crimes. It would be in their best interest to stop this fringe anti-choice movement from being associated with their legitimate advocacy.

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Technorati Tags: abortion, domestic terrorism, Dr. George Tiller murder, violence