Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, January 1, 1995 TAG: 9501030080
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-12 EDITION: HOLIDAY
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NEW YORK LENGTH: Medium
Congress and the White House must demonstrate a strong commitment to women's health, including abortion, said Pamela Maraldo, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Planned Parenthood - whose affiliates have about 22,000 staff and volunteers operating more than 900 medical centers - worked to tighten security after deadly violence Friday at two abortion clinics in Brookline, Mass.
David Nova, director of public affairs for Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge, said the Roanoke and Blacksburg family-planning clinics do not provide abortions. Fears generally center more on arson than murder.
``We are careful to back up all our computer records and keep them off site [in case of fire],'' he said.
Nova said it seems the violence at clinics has increased and that the only stories that make headlines are the ones resulting in death. His office, however, receives reports from around the country of the increased violence against clinics in the form of bomb threats and bombings, harassment of patients and arson.
He said he was surprised he did not see a story in the local paper about a Ku Klux Klan rally held outside a clinic in Florida. Protestors shouted denunciations of abortions of white fetuses, but cheered those of black and Hispanic ones.
Dr. Bill Fitzhugh, who performs abortions at the Roanoke Medical Center for Women and at two other clinics in the state, would not comment on how, or even if, he has changed his security measures. He did say everyone in his field is conscious of the increased threats.
``I think [these are] very trying and sad times,'' Fitzhugh said.
John C. Salvi III was charged in the rifle attacks that killed two people and injured five. One of the women killed was a receptionist at a Planned Parenthood clinic.
Salvi, 22, was arrested Saturday in Norfolk, Va., after he allegedly opened fire on a building housing an abortion clinic there. No one was injured in that shooting.
Maraldo said that since Friday, affiliates in California, Washington, D.C., and Rhode Island had received anonymous telephone calls warning, ``What happened in Brookline will look like a picnic compared to what will happen at your place.''
Maraldo urged all affiliates to tighten security and contact the national office if they needed help.
In Kansas City, the Planned Parenthood clinic locked its front doors and assigned security guards to check the names of women seeking abortions against an appointment list, said its executive director, Patty Brous.
``This feels like we're in the middle of a guerrilla war,'' she said.
Merle Hoffman, president of Choices Clinic, said more security guards were in place at the private clinic in Queens.
But she added, ``Somebody who is committed to these terrorist acts who will put themselves at risk of death and who, in fact, sees their death as a greater martyrdom, is going to find any way they can to get in.''
- Staff writer Lisa Garcia contributed to this story.
by CNB