Bush Justice Department Didn’t Enforce Anti-Abortion Violence Laws
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
George Tiller
Pursuing attackers of abortion clinics was not a priority of the Justice Department during the Bush administration, concludes an investigation conducted by The Washington Independent. The publication found that enforcement of a federal law making it a crime to threaten or commit violence against abortion providers or to vandalize their clinics, declined by more than 75% from 2000-2008.
In addition, Justice officials virtually stopped using the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, which allows the attorney general to seek an injunction and compensatory damages for anyone who’s been harmed by any activity that violates the law. During the Clinton years of 1994-1999, the Justice Department filed 17 civil cases under the FACE Act. But during George W. Bush’s presidency, his administration filed a civil case under the FACE Act only once.
According to the National Abortion Federation, there were 3,291 acts of violence against abortion providers in the United States and Canada between 2000 and 2008, including at least 17 cases of “extreme” violence, such as arson, stabbing and bomb attacks. More than 600 letters containing threats to use Anthrax were sent to abortion doctors and clinics between 2000 and 2002 alone. And yet the Bush administration prosecuted only 11 individuals for any acts of violence against abortion facilities or providers.
-Noel Brinkerhoff
DOJ Abortion Violence Suits Cratered Under Bush (by Daphne Eviatar, Washington Independent)
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