FBI steps in as attacks on Georgia women’s clinics escalate [View all]
A series of break-ins and arson incidents have workers and patients at womens health clinics in Atlanta on heightened alert, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. The FBI and ATF are conducting a joint investigation of what appears to be a sharp escalation in a campaign to intimidate and threaten providers of womens health care, including abortion services.
In recent weeks, clinics specializing in womens health services have been the scene of three burglaries and now two fires. The first fire took place at a private OB/GYN office in the north Atlanta suburb of Gwinnett on Sunday, the second just Wednesday at the Alpha Group GYN offices, a large and bustling facility in Marietta.
Raw Story asked Jaime Chandra, Communications Manager for Atlantas Feminist Womens Health Center, if she believes that the attacks are related to Georgias recent passage of stringent new anti-abortion measures. I dont think theres any doubt about that, she said, I would love to believe that its not related and that we live in a civil society, but, no, I dont think its coincidental.
Chandra pointed out that all of the doctors targeted so far are part of a group of OB GYN physicians who spoke out against the states controversial HB 954, a so-called fetal pain bill that placed tight new restrictions on late-term abortions and was passed into law on March 29. Under the new rules, physicians and other health care workers who provide abortion services outside the confines of the law are subject to criminal prosecution.
more . . . http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/05/25/fbi-steps-in-as-attacks-on-georgia-womens-clinics-escalate/