Abortion clinic

An abortion clinic is a medical facility that specializes in performing abortions. Such clinics may be public medical centers or private medical practices.

Statistics

Canada

• There were 197 abortion providers in Canada in 2001.^[1]
• 34 of the 197 providers in Canada in 2001 were clinics and 167 were hospitals.^[1]
• The provinces with the most providers were Ontario (76 hospitals, 6 clinics), Quebec (30 hospitals, 19 clinics), and British Columbia (37 hospitals, 3 clinics) in 2001.^[1]
• The provinces and territories with the fewest providers were Prince Edward Island (none), Nunavut (one hospital), and Yukon (one hospital) in 2001.^[1]

United States

• There were 1,793 abortion providers in the United States in 2008.^[2]
• 381 of the 1,787 providers in the U.S. in 2005 were clinics at which the majority of patient visits were for abortions.^[3]
• Every state (and the District of Columbia) had at least one provider in 2008.^[2]
• The states with the most providers were California (522) and New York (249) in 2008.^[2]
• The states with the fewest providers were North Dakota (one) and South Dakota (two) in 2008.^[2]
• 13% of all counties in the United States had a provider in 2008.^[2]
• 31% of metropolitan counties and 3% of non-metropolitan counties had a provider in 2005.^[3]

Operation Save America members protest in front of an abortion clinic in Jackson, Mississippi, during their 2006 National Event in that city.

Anti-abortion protests

Abortion clinics have frequently been the site of protests by anti-abortion activists. Protesters often engage in what is known as "sidewalk counseling", in which they warn people entering the clinic about alleged risks of abortion or show pictures of fetuses.^[4] In 1985, 85% of abortion providers were experiencing either picketing, clinic blockades or invasion of the facility,^[5] with 19% or providers receiving bomb threats and 16% were picketed at their homes .^[6] In 2000 82% of facilities received protests with 61% receiving 20 or more pickets. ^[7]

The 2007 film Juno contains an example of such protest. The protagonist enters a clinic with the purpose of procuring an abortion, but sees a fellow student protesting outside the clinic who tells her that the fetus "has fingernails".^[8] This causes Juno to change her mind about having an abortion, and she leaves the clinic, with her friend calling out to her, "God appreciates your miracle."^[9]

In some countries, a buffer zone is enforced to prevent protesters from standing within a certain distance of the clinic entrance.^[10]

Anti-abortion violence

Abortion clinics have frequently been subject to anti-abortion violence. The New York Times cites over one hundred clinic bombings and incidents of arson, over three hundred invasions, and over four hundred incidents of vandalism between 1978 and 1993,^[11] and the National Abortion Federation, an organization of abortion providers, cites over 300 attempted or completed instances of bombing or arson, thousands of invasions and vandalism incidents, as well as other attacks, between 1977 and 2009.^[12] According to the NAF, the first instance of arson at an abortion clinic took place in March 1976 in Oregon, and the first bombing was in Ohio in February 1978.^[13] Some notable incidents are:

• In 1993, Dr. David Gunn, one of a number of doctors murdered by opponents of abortion rights, was shot and killed outside as he arrived at his clinic.
• In 1993, Dr. George Tiller was shot in both arms by Shelley Shannon outside his clinic. Tiller would later be murdered in church by another opponent of abortion rights.
• In 1994, Dr. John Britton, another doctor, and James Barrett, his escort, were shot and killed by Paul Jennings Hill as they arrived at a clinic. Barrett's wife June was also wounded.
• In 1994, John Salvi shot and killed two abortion clinic receptionists, Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols, and wounded five other people.^[14]
• In 1998, a remote-controlled pipe bomb that Eric Robert Rudolph set outside a clinic killed security guard Robert Sanderson and maimed nurse Emily Lyons.
• In 2001, Peter James Knight shot and killed a security guard, Steven Rogers, at the abortion clinic where Rogers worked.
• In 2015, a shooting incident occurred at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado which resulted in three fatalities, including a police officer, and in multiple injuries to other clinic workers and patients.

In the United States, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act was passed in 1994 in response to acts of violence at clinics, which prohibits the use of force or obstruction to interfere with a person's attempt to obtain or provide reproductive health services, and the intentional damage of a reproductive health care facility such as an abortion clinic.

See also

• Center for Reproductive and Sexual Health, once the largest freestanding abortion clinic in the world, opened in New York City after New York legalized abortion in 1970.

References

Further reading

• Robinson, B.A. (2004). "Violence at US Abortion Clinics". Retrieved 2006-04-28.