Access to abortion declines as terror incidents increase

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• Eleanor Smeal announces campaign against abortion • And much more! See pp. 4-5 24 SOCIALIST ACTION OCTOBER 1990 For women in the United States, it's becoming harder to get an abortion. Besides the lack of public funding and increasing restrictions on abortion, even finding a clinic or hospital that provides abortion services can be a challenge.

The Alan Guttmacher Institute's recent study, "Abortion Services in the United States, 1987 and 1988," points out that abortion services are becoming increasingly inaccessible to women, especially in the nation's rural areas.

Between 1985 and 1988, the number of abortion-service providers in the United States declined 19 percent, entirely due to hospitals closing their abortion facilities. In 1977, 1654 hospitals nationwide offered abortion services; by 1988, that figure had tallen to 1040.

As the number of hospitals performing abortions has fallen, the number of clinics offering abortion services has risen over the same period. However, these clinics are in urban areas; overall, the number of rural clinics performing abortions has declined by 7 percent.

The Guttmacher study points out the dangers of concentrating abortion clinics in urban areas: "It is ... important that physician and hospital services be available in sparsely populated areas where it is not economical to establish clinics. The loss of hospital abortion services has left increasing numbers of women without any provider in their local areas.

"The net decrease in the number of hospitals that perform abortions has had the unfortunate effect of reducing abortion services in states and counties where they were already scarce. Extreme inequality of access to such services already exists, even without new state restrictions that may result from [the July 1989] decision in Webster v. Reproductive Health Services. Women in many parts of the country have to travel long distances to obtain abortions, and those who manage to overcome such obstacles are likely to have their abortions later in pregnancy, when the health risks are greater."

Operation Rescue's terrorism The concentration of abortion services at free-standing, urban clinics has another negative consequence for women. These clinics-much more than hospitals-serve as targets of anti-choice terrorism and harassment.

Operation Rescue regularly targets free-standing family planning clinics for their blockades and aggressive picketlines. Of several hundred actions held in cities across the country over the past two years, only a handful occurred at hospitals or private physicians' offices.

Moreover, anti-choice extremists periodically bomb free-standing clinics. If antichoice extremists targeted hospitals, an outraged public would quickly demand government protection. But violence against family-planning clinics, which are also medical facilities, has not sparked the same kind of outcry. Bombings and arson atrestrictions for teens tempts are on the rise.

There have been 44 incidents of violence at clinics so far this year, according to the National Abortion Federation. On Sept. 4, the Planned Parenthood clinic in Concord, Calif., became the latest victim. An incendiary device tossed into the waiting room sometime before 2:15 a.m. caused fire damage estimated at $200,000.

Concord police are refusing to investigate the incident as anti-choice terrorism, claiming instead that it was a random act of violence.

Speaking to the San Francisco Examiner, Heather Estes, Planned Parenthood executive director for the clinic, disputed the claim of the police. "There is no question," she said, "but that this is an indication of stepped-up terrorist activity by anti-abortionists who are trying to close us down by intimidation. We see this as part of an increasing trend to use violence to shut us down.

Estes also cited recent Guam and Pennsylvania are also making their way through the legal pipeline. Many pro-choice activists believe that these laws will serve as direct challenges to Roe v. Wade, the historic decision which legalized Meanwhile, state legislatures are continuing to restrict abortion as well. Last month, Michigan passed a law denying minors access to abortion without the consent of their parents.

A strong movement is necessary to counteract these assaults on women's rights. However, the largest pro-choice organizations-Planned Parenthood, NARAL, ACLU, and NOW-have turned their attention towards the ballot box in a misguided attempt to elect "pro-choice" candidates to office.

The electoral strategy of these organizations focuses primarily on electing Democratic Party politicians. The Democrats, however, controlled Congress in 1977 when the Hyde Amendment was passed, which was the first major assault on legal abortion. The Democratic Party is in large part responsible for women losing federal funding for abortion.

The surprising statistics quoted at the beginning of this article could serve as the basis for these pro-choice organizations to band together to demand government funding for abortion.

Instead of relying on politicians who change their position with every new public-opinion poll, the movement must rely on the hundreds of thousands of activists who have marched, defended clinics, and organized for reproductive rights. These are the true allies of the pro-choice movement, and the only allies capable of winning the fight to keep abortion safe, legal, and accessible.