Christian terrorists lose in Seattle court

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On Aug. 11, a U.S. District Court in Seattle awarded the Feminist Women's Health Center of Yakima, Wash., $268,500 plus $23,000 for lost salaries to three employees.

The Yakima center is the parent to the Feminist Women's Health Center in Everett, Wash. The jury convicted three defendants of conspiring to drive the Everett abortion clinic out of business.

One of the defendants, Curtis Beseda, had previously been sentenced to 20 years in jail in 1984 for firebombing the clinic three times. He has 15 more years to serve. His original defense for having bombed the clinic was that "God wanted him to do it."

The other two convicted Christian terrorists are Republican Party activists Dotti Roberts and Sharon Codispodi of Lake Stevens, Wash. They were convicted of conspiring criminals," it is the Operation Rescue (OR) bunch. At clinic after clinic across the country, they have defied the laws that allow women access to legal abortions by sitting down at clinic doors, or actually entering the clinics, to harass patients and destroy property.

At the Aradia Women's Center in Seattle, women have had to climb ladders to a second-story window to get to the clinic when barred by Operation Oppress-you thugs. And when these tactics didn't work, God's little devils firebombed the clinics.

Pulling a "Jimmy Carter"

Although the courts occasionally crack down on them when they go embarrassingly too far, OR fanatics have continued their illegal attacks because the power structure has blatantly encouraged them. Even the gutless wonders, the politicians who claim to support the legal right to abortion, have been very quiet in the face of these attacks.

In fact, at a recent governors' conference, the abortion issue was declared to be the number-one issue. The conference turned into a big "pity party" for the "boys." These weasels did little more than grapple with how to speak out of both sides of their mouth at once. How could they appeal to both the Christian terrorists and the vast majority who support women's right to choose?

Some of them tried to pull the "old Jimmy Carter act" by saying that while on the one hand, they personally abhor abortion-and if they got pregnant they certainly would not get an abortion-on the other hand, they would uphold the laws of the land. Since the majority are men, it is not likely they will ever have to make such a choice.

Other politicians said they weren't opposed to adult women having an abortion but wanted to impose parental consent upon teenagers. They thought this might smooth the feathers of the OR vultures a little.

But the recent Supreme Court decision on the Webster case threw the ball into the governors' laps by making abortion a "states rights" issue. Now, unlike Jimmy Carter, forced to make the uphold.

First-rate liars Many of these politicians complained that the majority of women didn't listen to their advice or take their statements for good coin. The reason is not hard to explain: Most women know that the political crooks who run the country are first-rate liars and cannot be trusted to carry out any promise they make anyway.

Fortunately, women and men who support choice are not depending on politicians or judges. They are organizing all over the country to stop Operation Rescue at clinics.

STATE BUREAU OF WOMB MANAGEMENT they are they will They are defending choice with their bodies.

And the National Organization for Women has called for another massive march in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 12. On April 9, there were 600,000 pro-choice supporters and this time they expect over 1 million.

Also, California State NOW has called for two Western states marches—on Oct. 15 in San Francisco and Oct. 22 in Los Angeles. Those marches will be used to organize people for the Washington, D.C., march in November.

Call your local NOW office; you are needed to defend your right to choose, now!