By Jon SchuppeNBC
News
Safety has always been a top concern for abortion clinics, but now it has become more urgent than ever.
The leak of a draft Supreme Court opinion suggesting that Roe v.
Wade has clinics worried about an uptick in harassment and other attacks by those who oppose abortion rights.
Laurie Casey, executive director of the WE Health clinic in Duluth, Minn., said she is considering hiring security guards to increase protection at the center.
If the Supreme Court does overturn
Roe v.
Wade
, several states near Minnesota, including North Dakota, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Michigan, would restrict or outright ban abortions.
That could draw more protesters to Casey's clinic.
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“We feel that protests and harassment could increase due to the decision,” Casey said.
Violence against abortion providers has increased in recent years
, according to data compiled by the National Abortion Federation, which helps clinics develop safety plans.
This includes an increase in attacks and threats, from 69 in 2016 to 254 in 2020, the latest year for which data is available.
The group says it collects reports from its nearly 500 members and verifies incidents.
A pastor asks women not to have abortions outside a clinic in Granite City, Illinois, on April 12, 2022. Martha Irvine / AP
Melissa Fowler, director of programs for the National Abortion Federation, said clinics fear the news will spark more attacks.
In recent months, Fowler said, clinics reported an increase in the number and intensity of protesters following the enactment of a 2021 Texas law banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy and the Supreme Court hearing. arguments over a Mississippi law restricting abortion.
"We know from past experience that news like this, political losses like this, can embolden people who want to harass or terrorize abortion providers," Fowler said.
“We are definitely on high alert and we want our members to be on high alert.”
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A May 2021 FBI report on domestic terrorism found that
changes in abortion laws were a common driver of criminal activity by extremists.
The Justice Department has prosecuted more than a dozen cases of violence and other crimes against abortion providers in the past decade.
While many clinics have their own security operations, including private guards, volunteer patient escorts, and security cameras, they also rely on the police to respond to threats and prevent protesters from interfering with their work.
The National Abortion Federation has a security division that includes former police officers and shares the concerns of the clinics with local police.
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Frank Straub, director of the Center for the Prevention of Premeditated Violence at the National Police Institute, said that at times like these, when clinics are at increased risk, police should increase their patrols.
“Depending on what happens in the next few days, the police may reconsider whether they want to put their riot teams on alert,” Straub said.
Protesters clash with police in Los Angeles, California, during an abortion rights protest.AP
News of the possible imminent Supreme Court decision also sparked protests from abortion rights advocates who marched in the streets of several cities.
The only reports of violence were in Los Angeles, where a faction of protesters clashed with police, some throwing rocks and injuring an officer, Police Chief Michel Moore said.
Police beat some protesters with batons, the Los Angeles Times reported.
Outside the Jackson, Mississippi, Women's Health clinic, which is at the center of the Supreme Court case, there was a quieter atmosphere than usual after the draft opinion was leaked.
At one point Tuesday, a Jackson Police Department patrol car drove slowly past the store, something unusual according to a guard at the clinic.
A reproductive health clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, on December 17, 2021.Rogelio V. Solis / AP
The same thing has happened outside the West Alabama Women's Center in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, said Robin Marty, director of operations there.
“As soon as I heard the information on Monday, safety was my biggest concern
,” Marty said.
But he clarified that there has been no increase in demonstrations.
"One silver lining is that at least the protesters will feel like they've gained something and leave us alone," he said.
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However, she doesn't expect that to last.
If abortion becomes illegal in Alabama, the clinic will continue to provide medical care, including providing care to women who have experienced miscarriages, Marty explained.
That will probably mean that hostilities will continue.
“I don't expect it to go away even if Roe is overturned, because our clinic will serve as long as we can, and there will still be people trying to catch us doing something illegal,” added Marty.
They fear that other laws that protect human rights will change if abortion is prohibited
May 4, 202201:49
America's long history of violence against abortion clinics means safety concerns will not abate.
Daniel O'Leary, the former police chief of Brookline, Massachusetts, is still haunted by
a
1994 shooting in which abortion opponent John Salvi III killed two workers and wounded five others
at two local clinics.
Salvi was sentenced to life in prison and committed suicide shortly after.
[“It would be a fundamental change”: Biden reacts to Supreme Court draft on abortion rights]
Prior to those attacks, Brookline police assigned an officer to act as a liaison between protesters and clinic staff.
That work has continued in the years since.
There have been protests at the Brookline clinics, but no major violence, O'Leary said.
"Police have to have a role in that because they're going to be on the front lines, trying to talk to both sides," O'Leary said.
“That way at least they can get to know each other.”