Abortion advocates have intensely raised fears over anti-abortion violence in the wake of the Thanksgiving weekend shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs, Colorado, but according to data from the pro-choice National Abortion Federation, violence against abortionists is actually on the decline.
Bombings, bomb threats, burglaries, vandalism, and death threats perpetrated by individuals against abortion clinics or providers have all occurred in substantially smaller numbers in the past five years compared to the five-year period preceding 2009.
Created Equal director Mark Harrington told the Washington Examiner in response to the news. “The pro-life movement’s peaceful record is impeccable and can be put up against any other social reform movement in American history.”
The Examiner’s Paige Cunningham further notes that actual murders of abortionists are exceedingly rare not only in recent years, but throughout the United States’ entire history of abortion-on-demand: “Of eight recorded murders of abortion providers since 1977, the 2009 murder of doctor George Tiller was the only one since 1999.”
Pro-life leaders and organizations unanimously condemn anti-abortion violence. Nevertheless, Shaunna Thomas, founder of the feminist group UltraViolet, insists “these are more than random acts of violence,” and “only a domestic terrorism investigation can help us find out who is driving this violence.”
