c. 1997 Religion News Service
WASHINGTON _ Although federal investigators have not ruled out the possibility that two explosions Thursday (Jan. 16) at a suburban Atlanta building that houses an abortion clinic were acts of”domestic terrorism unrelated to clinic violence,”religious groups opposed to abortion were quick to condemn the attacks.
Six people were injured _ all in the second of two explosions that occurred an hour apart on Thursday morning.
Police officials said that Atlanta Northside Family Planning Services, located on the ground floor of the building, appeared to be the target of the explosions. But U.S. Attorney Kent Alexander, who is coordinating the federal task force investigating the bombings, said a number of possible motives would be examined.
Still, within hours of Thursday’s explosions, anti-abortion groups began releasing statements denouncing the attacks. In the past, many opponents of abortion have been criticized for not reacting to abortion clinic violence in a more timely and forceful fashion.”Millions of Americans are frustrated by the deaths of millions of children through abortion. But we have sought and must continue to seek loving solutions, honest public debate and sound legislation,”said Gary Bauer, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council.
Bauer said the violence was particularly disturbing because it came just before the Martin Luther King holiday.”Dr. King galvanized a movement to correct a profound injustice, but he used peaceful means to accomplish the highest goals,”Bauer said.
Speaking for the Bishops’ Committee for Pro-Life Activities, Roman Catholic Cardinal Bernard Law of Boston also condemned the”senseless violence”of the bombings.”Such violence is the opposite of everything we stand for and everything we hope for our culture today: respect for the life of each and every human being from its beginning to its natural end,”Law said.
Ralph Reed, executive director of the Christian Coalition, said the attacks would”only serve to undermine”legislative activities against abortion.”We will continue to speak out on behalf of the unborn, but we will do so with the godly weapons of love and mercy, and not with the hellish weapons of violence and terror,”Reed said.
President Bill Clinton and other supporters of abortion rights also strongly condemned the bombings. “Make no mistake: Anyone who brings violence against a woman trying to exercise her constitutional rights is committing an act of terror,”the president said.
The Rev. Carlton Veazey, deputy director of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice, drew parallels between abortion clinic violence and the recent spate of arsons at black churches.”Both are carried out by extremists who choose an immoral and illegal route to achieve their goals because they have failed to do so through responsible political channels,”he said.
The Atlanta bombings occurred at the same time Planned Parenthood and the Feminist Majority Foundation were holding a previously scheduled Washington news conference to announce a decrease in the number of reported acts of violence at abortion clinics in 1996.
In a survey of 312 abortion clinics, 30 percent reported acts or threats of violence last year, down from 39 percent in 1995, according to the two groups.”Today’s bombs at an Atlanta family planning clinic prove that while statistics on clinic violence show an overall decline, some in the anti-choice movement still believe their views grant them a license to bomb, murder and assault their opponents,”said Kate Michelman, president of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League.
January 22 marks the 24th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe vs. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
MJP END LAWTON
