THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 30, 1994 TAG: 9407300231
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: FROM WIRE REPORTS
LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
John Bayard Britton knew the risk he was taking when he went to work at a Pensacola, Fla., abortion clinic after another doctor was shot and killed by an anti-abortion protester.
``Being shot by a madman has always been a risk,'' Britton said. ``It's just happening more often now.''
Britton, 69, grew up in Albemarle County and graduated from the University of Virginia School of Medicine.
He was a busy family practitioner who preferred delivering babies to performing abortions. He called abortion ``just one of the compromises we have to make.''
The father of five took the job at The Ladies Center for Abortion so that it could stay open after David Gunn, a center doctor, was killed on March 10, 1993, at another Pensacola clinic.
Once a week, wearing his bulletproof vest, Britton, known as ``Doc'' and ``JB,'' would commute across the state to Pensacola from his home in Fernandina Beach, Fla.
He was determined that Gunn's death should not force the clinic to close.
``He was my best friend,'' a grieving Richard Britton, Dr. Britton's brother, said from his Charlottesville home Friday. ``I was just talking to him on the phone yesterday.
``He always worked for poor people. He didn't run a fancy practice. He worked very hard at it, and you could call him up at any time of the night and he'd come out and help you.''
Richard Britton, 61, said he occasionally suggested to his brother that he leave the Pensacola office.
``He's been harassed, and he had to wear a bulletproof vest and he went into the clinic in unmarked cars,'' Britton said. ``But he said, `If I got out, somebody else will have to take my place.' '' ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Britton
KEYWORDS: ABORTION SHOOTING MURDER by CNB