Protest Acceptable But Not Terrorism

Thu., April 23, 1998

By Jamie Tobias Neely jamien@spokesman.com

The letter was addressed to John Nugent, Planned Parenthood’s executive director. “You as a baby-killer will also be killed,” the letter warned.

Nugent doesn’t believe in living in fear. Still, he took the threat seriously and handed the letter over to Spokane police. After the 1996 bombing of Planned Parenthood’s Valley office, he knows the importance of security.

This week, Nugent feels encouraged by the jury’s ruling in a U.S. District Court case in Chicago, a case which applied federal racketeering laws to anti-abortion leaders.

Three prominent organizers, Joseph Scheidler, Andrew Scholberg and Timothy Murphy of the Pro-Life Action League, were found to have conspired to intimidate the staff and patients of abortion clinics across the country. Protesters shut down clinics with barricades. They threatened, grabbed and pushed doctors and patients.

No one should have to live and work in fear. Nightmares should never become a job requirement.

In Spokane, pro-life intimidation appears in a crazy routine of harassment and petty vandalism. Suddenly, a gate is padlocked shut or car locks are clogged with glue. Protesters will call to fill up the appointment books with fictitious names, jam clinic phone lines with nuisance calls, slap brochures over drivers’ windshields, blocking their vision as they pull away.

Certain positions at the Spokane clinic stay dark out of fear. A surgical assistant’s job has remained empty for 90 days. Last week, a new employee filled that spot for two days, just long enough to learn the clinic’s security procedures. On the third day she called to resign. The risk caused too much terror in her family.

This country cherishes its freedom of speech and its long, proud history of nonviolent protest. The American system offers many avenues for those who would prod social change: letter-writing campaigns, political lobbying, peaceful picketing. But whether the issue involves the passions of the right or those of the left, such as animal rights or environmentalism, violence and intimidation can never be justified.

John Nugent knows the cost of terrorism. Since the 1996 bombing, Planned Parenthood has spent $425,000 to bolster security. It budgets $150,000 annually for safety measures. It hires security guards, trains cameras on picketers and screens visitors for weapons.

The price of nightmare prevention runs high. Eventually, the Chicago jury’s ruling may help to reduce it.

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