CHOICE-NET REPORT
For Week ending August 27, 1994

CHOICE-NET REPORT is a weekly update on reproductive rights 
issues distributed through email, Women's Wire, 
gopher.WELL.com, Usenet groups alt.activism, talk.abortion, 
soc.women, and other Internet channels. Please reprint, 
distribute and TAKE ACTION.


CLINICS REMAIN ON HIGH ALERT

At Montana clinics, bullets continue to arrive in the mail with 
the names of doctors etched on them. Death threats come in by 
mail and phone to clinics all over the country. In one city, a 
death threat was made via a local radio station.

On August 9, a manager at the Planned Parenthood clinic 
discovered a bomb outside the clinic. A composite drawing of a 
woman seen near the clinic soon after the bomb led to the 
arrest of Helen Virginia Ames, 33, of Gulfport, Mississippi. 
Ames has been ordered held without bail pending trial. Her 
court-appointed attorney said he will file a motion to have 
Ames tested to see if she is psychologically competent to stand 
trial. Ames was convicted in 1992 in Clearwater, Florida, of 
making a bomb threat on the phone to police. (source: personal 
reports and AP)

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RADICAL REACTIONS TO FLORIDA MURDER

Catholic Priest Rev. David Trosch has led the way encouraging 
anti-choice activists to kill abortion providers. Since Paul 
Hill murdered Dr. John Britton and James Barrett last month, 
Trosch has become a media celebrity. His many television 
appearances have included the Today Show, CNBC and dozens of 
local news broadcasts. Among his many quotes excusing these 
gruesome murders were these gems: "God smiles on those who 
take a life to save the lives of the 'unborn.'' and ''Defending 
innocent human life is not murder.''

Advocates for Life released a statement saying that ''while 
Paul Hill may have been genuinely concerned to protect children 
and justified in shooting abortionist John Britton, he may have 
been wrong in the shooting death of the bodyguard.''

Donald Spitz, spokesman for Operation Rescue Chesapeake, 
reacted to the murders with this statement, "If there was a 
sniper in the school yard sniping off children one by one and 
the only way you could stop him was by stopping that sniper ... 
you would stop that sniper.''

Michael Bray, a Bowie, Md., pastor who served four years in 
prison for bombing clinics in the Washington area and has just 
written a book called ''A Time to Kill,'' said, ''There is no 
prohibition in the Bible against killing.'' The ancient Hebrew 
word translated as ''kill'' in the commandment ''Thou shalt not 
kill'' does not refer to self-defense, Bray argues.

All of these activists say they would not themselves kill a 
doctor. They say they are either too important to the cause, 
too committed to their families or too smart to publicly 
proclaim their intentions. Before the recent murders in 
Pensacola, Paul Hill assured several friends that he would not 
himself resort to violence. (source: Reuters)

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RANDALL TERRY FINDS A NEW PLATFORM

Randall Terry, founder of Operation Rescue, is working with the 
radical right U.S. Taxpayers Party (USTP) launching a new 
"leadership institute" to train "militant" and "unmerciful" 
activists. Terry has recently assumed a leadership position at 
the USTP, writing newsletters and speaking at events. He says 
he plans to run as a USTP candidate in the state of New York in 
1996. "I'm anxious to run," he said "I am chomping at the bit 
to actually be in office."

Terry said a new "leadership institute" will be held near his 
hometown of Binghamton, New York in October and will offer 
"three days of intense training on vision, courage, biblical 
ethics, raising up a cadre of people who are militant, who are 
fierce, who are unmerciful to the deeds of darkness, unmerciful 
to the ideologies of hell." At the same conference Matthew 
Trewhella, leader of Missionaries to the "Pre-born" urged 
delegates to form armed militias and to establish a "militia 
day" in their churches. Conference organizers sold copies of a 
manual on how to create an armed underground army. Jeffrey 
Baker, USTP National Committee member touted that "Abortionists 
should be put to death" during his convention speech. the 
audience erupted in applause.

The U.S. Taxpayers party is headquartered in Vienna, Virginia. 
In 1992 the USTP presidential candidate, Howard Phillips, ran a 
series of controversial campaign commercials which featured the 
photograph, name, and home address of medical directors at a 
Planned Parenthood in Iowa while the narrator stated "Howard 
Phillips urges you to contact these baby killers and urge them 
to mend their ways. A vote for Howard Phillips is a vote to 
prosecute the baby killers for premeditated murder." and 
addresses of local abortion providers. (sources: AP and 
Frontlines Research)

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KLAN SHOWS ITS TRUE COLORS

Ku Klux Klansmen have been demonstrating at clinics in Florida 
in full Klan robes. They said they were protesting both 
against abortion and the presence of federal marshals assigned 
to guard the clinics. Operation Rescue leadership asked members 
not to picket as long as the Klan are at the clinics. Klan 
spokesman J.D. Alder told Reuters "I am selectively opposed to 
abortion. I don't care if blacks and Jews have abortions." 
(source: San Jose Mercury News)

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RESOURCES

If the stories above bother you and you'd like to fight back 
against the ever-increasing threat of right wing terrorism, 
there is a resource manual that can help. It's called HOW TO 
WIN: A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO DEFEATING THE RADICAL RIGHT IN YOUR 
COMMUNITY and it contains more than 50 articles, checklists and 
organizing tips to help you find allies and defeat anti-liberty 
extremists. You can order a copy for $25 from the National 
Jewish Democratic Council, 711 2nd Street, NE, Suite 100, 
Washington, DC 20002 or call 202-544-7636.

PROCHOICE RESOURCE CENTER, INC. - these folks publish an 
excellent quarterly newsletter documenting the good work of 
hundreds of pro-choice groups around the country. If you're 
looking for some case studies of successful pro-choice 
projects, contact them at 174 East Boston Post Road, 
Mamaroneck, NY 10543. 800-733-1973

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Information Sources: California Abortion and Reproductive 
Rights Action League-North, Alan Guttmacher Institute, 
Reproductive Freedom News, Voters for Choice, Culture Watch, 
Political Woman, various Congresspersons, various newspapers, 
C-Span, CNN, Reuters, AP, and UPI. Editor: Kathy Watkins, 
Administrative Director, CARAL-North