THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, August 2, 1994 TAG: 9408020314
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY LAURA LAFAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Two national abortion-rights groups have asked U.S. marshals to guard Hillcrest Clinic and its staff because of ties between two local anti-abortion activists and Paul J. Hill, the man accused of killing a doctor and his escort at a Florida clinic last week.
Norfolk is among about 30 communities nationwide for which The National Abortion Federation and the Feminist Majority are seeking protection, said Gina Shaw, a federation spokeswoman.
Federal officers have been sent to some communities on the list, including Pensacola, Fla.; Fort Wayne, Ind.; Milwaukee, Wis., and Falls Church, Va., where a clinic was firebombed Friday night.
All of the cities on the list have clinics where employees have been stalked and harassed by anti-abortion activists who advocate violence against doctors, Shaw said.
At Hillcrest, employees say they have been followed, harassed over the telephone and picketed at home. Some anti-abortion activists also picket the clinic six days a week.
The names of two regular picketers - Rescue Virginia Director David Crane and his assistant, Donald Spitz - appear on a petition Hill circulated earlier this year in support of Michael F. Griffin, who killed Dr. David Gunn at a Pensacola clinic last year. The petition advocates using ``lethal force . . . for the purpose of defending the lives of innocent children.''
Twenty-three other names appear on the petition, including that of Michael Bray, a Bowie, Md., pastor who served three years in prison for conspiring to bomb Hillcrest in 1984.
The petition states: ``We, the undersigned, declare the justice of taking all godly action necessary to defend innocent human life including the use of force.
``We proclaim that whatever force is legitimate to defend the life of a born child is legitimate to defend the life of an unborn child. . . . If Michael Griffin did in fact kill David Gunn, his use of lethal force was justifiable provided it was carried out for the purpose of defending the lives of unborn children. Therefore, he ought to be acquitted of the charges against him.''
The abortion federation and the Feminist Majority have called for a federal investigation of all the people whose names appear on the petition.
``It only takes one man with a gun,'' Shaw said. ``And we know there are two people in Norfolk who are in favor of murdering doctors.''
Crane said Monday that he endorsed the petition as an individual, not as director of Rescue Virginia. He said Rescue Virginia ``is committed to a policy of nonviolent intervention.''
``It's a statement. It's not an intent of action,'' he said. ``It's a statement that equates born life with unborn life and says they have equal value and that they deserve equal defense.''
Crane and Spitz also were photographed picketing with Hill in March at a hotel where abortion providers stayed while attending a memorial service for Gunn. In one photo, Hill carries a sign that says, ``EXECUTE MURDERERS.''
Ron Fitzsimmons, executive director of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers, spoke with the three men in the hotel lobby and saw them later at the memorial service.
``On Saturday night, Paul and David and Don were camped out in the lobby of the Grand Hotel where we were staying . . . and I went up to Paul and I said, `Paul, what are you doing here?' And he said, `I think you know why I'm here.' And then he introduced me to these two guys and identified them as Operation Rescue folks from Norfolk. We had a very civil discussion.''
Fitzsimmons said he saw Crane and Spitz check out of the hotel the next morning. Later, he saw them walking around with Hill at Gunn's memorial service.
``That's the real scary thing about all this,'' he said. ``Paul had a chance to wipe out 100 of us that day.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
Paul J. Hill, left, who was arrested Friday in the Pensacola, Fla.,
shooting deaths of a doctor and his clinic escort, pickets a
Pensacola hotel lobby in March with Norfolk anti-abortion activists
David Crane, center, and Donald Spitz. They were in Pensacola for a
memorial service for an abortion provider. This photo was provided
by the National Coalition of Abortion Providers.
Paul J. Hill picketed in the lobby of a Pensacola hotel in March.
Graphic
STAFF
THE STATEMENT
SOURCE: National Abortion Federation
[For complete graphic, please see microfilm]
by CNB