Living in the Crosshairs: The Untold Stories of Anti-Abortion Terrorism

337 Pages·2015·1.38 MB·English

by  David S Cohen

LIVING
in the
CROSSHAIRS
•

L
IVING
in the
C
ROSSHAIRS
•
THE UNTOLD STORIES OF
ANTI-ABORTION TERRORISM
David S. Cohen
and
Krysten Connon
1
1
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
ISBN 978–0–19–937755–8
1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
To Jennifer Boulanger

Contents
•
Preface ix
Introduction 1
1. Seven Stories of Targeted Harassment 21
2. Where Targeted Harassment Occurs 57
3. Tactics of Targeted Harassment 75
4. Secondary Targets 109
5. Providers’ Reactions to Targeted Harassment 123
6. Prevention and Protection 147
7. Six Stories of Law and Targeted Harassment 173
8. Legal Responses to Targeted Harassment 205
9. Legal Reform 235
10. Why Abortion Providers Continue 269
Notes 285
Acknowledgments 309
Provider Index 315
Index 319
vii

PrefaCe
•
Abortion is one of the most common medical procedures in the United
States, as three in ten women will have the procedure in their lifetime.
Every year, over one million women have an abortion. Since the US
Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973 and decriminalized abor-
tion, there have been over fifty million abortions performed in the
United States. Although there is variation, women of all ages, religions,
races, socioeconomic groups, and family statuses have abortions.1
Not only is abortion one of the most common medical procedures,
but it is also an incredibly safe procedure in the United States. In fact,
abortion is much safer than childbirth. From 1998 to 2005, sixty-four
women died from a legal abortion out of over ten million abortions
performed; in contrast, over 2,800 women died from childbirth out of
thirty-two million pregnancies that resulted in live birth. The rate of
death of women undergoing legal abortion is fourteen times lower than
the rate of death from childbirth. Moreover, every significant complica-
tion associated with pregnancy is more common with childbirth than
with abortion.2
However, despite abortion being such a common and safe medical
procedure, individuals who provide abortion care cannot count on their
own personal safety, and partly because abortion providers are not safe,
ix