The following article was published in "The Guardian", newspaper of the Communist Party of Australia in its issue of Wednesday, July 25th, 2001. Contact address: 65 Campbell Street, Surry Hills. Sydney. 2010 Australia. Phone: (612) 9212 6855 Fax: (612) 9281 5795. CPA Central Committee: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> "The Guardian": <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Webpage: http://www.cpa.org.au> Subscription rates on request. ****************************** The anti-abortion lobby TERRORISTS & FANATICS Last week's fatal shooting of security guard Steve Rogers at the East Melbourne Fertility Control Clinic has sounded a warning that the agenda of the extreme anti-abortion religious right has taken the step from threats and intimidation, to violence and murder. The Australian Medical Association said the shooting was a wake-up call for all doctors to upgrade their security. Cait Calcutt from Children by Choice called for legislation to prevent protests outside clinics. "Even though protestors claim they aren't stopping anyone from entering, it's physically and emotionally intimidating for the women who are getting safe health procedures, and the workers at the clinic", said Ms Calcutt. Dr Jo Wainer, who with her husband Bertram set up Australia's first legal abortion provider, said of the anti-abortionists, "It {anti-abortion] is really just a mask to cover up their hatred of women. Their willingness to inflict pain and trauma on women is an appalling indictment of the true motives behind what they do." There is a network of abortion terrorists worldwide of which Australia is part, according to Dr Geoff Brodie from Australian Birth Control Services. He said the shooting was most likely a terrorist attack on abortion providers, not a robbery attempt, and that if it was a terrorist attack this person (who has refused to give his name to the police) would have had some encouragement or assistance. "I presume that's partly why he's been quiet. "I think that the fact that this act has not been decried by the Catholic Church or by the demonstrators outside the clinic ... if they tolerate it by their silence, they're condoning it, and by condoning it they're talking about justifiable murder", Dr Brodie told "The Guardian". "We're looking for a clear statement from these people that it was an abominable act." The Helpers of God's Precious Little Innocents are members of an offshoot of a US-based Catholic fundamentalist group of the same name. They have a long standing presence outside the East Melbourne clinic every day, including the day after Steve Rogers was killed, harassing women and staff going into and coming out of the service. The Helpers of God fanatics and their fellow travellers, Right to Life, both deny any knowledge of the man accused of the killing, and in fact deny there is any connection between them. Even their statements to the media contradict this. Ben O'Brien from Helpers: "But we believe that violence begets violence. It's hardly surprising that abortion leads to acts of violence." Margaret Tighe from Right to Life: "Unborn children are being killed there. When you know that, it is not surprising that somebody might want to take the law into their own hands." Calling the shooting of Steve Rogers "un-Australian and very, very unkind and inhumane", Jo Wainer described the anti-abortion lobby as a licence for the violent harassment and intimidation of women and their partners. "They are fanatics. I have seen them literally frothing at the mouth." ********************************************************* -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
LL:ART: The abortion lobby. Terrorists and fanatics
Communist Party of Australia Thu, 26 Jul 2001 23:03:54 -0700
