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http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/11/29/us/30abortion-clinic-violence.html?_r=0
A Brief History of Deadly Attacks on Abortion Providers
By LIAM STACK NOV. 29, 2015
The fatal shooting of three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs on Friday was the latest incident in a long history of violent attacks on facilities or doctors providing abortions in the United States and Canada.
At least 11 people have been killed in attacks on abortion clinics in the United States since 1993, including the Colorado attack. The most recent victims were Garrett Swasey, a police officer at the University of Colorado - Colorado Springs and a part-time church pastor; Ke’Arre M. Stewart, a former Army specialist who served in Iraq; and Jennifer Markovsky, a woman from Hawaii who was at the clinic with a friend.
Authorities identified the gunman in the attack as Robert L. Dear Jr., saying that he opened fire with an assault-style rifle at the facility, setting off an hourslong standoff and gun battle that also wounded nine people. The police have not described the gunman’s motive, but authorities said that he spoke of “no more baby parts” in a rambling interview after his arrest.
Here is a brief look at the history of deadly violence against abortion clinics, their staff members, patients and their guests in the United States and Canada.
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Michael Griffin watches as the jury is selected in February 1994. Credit Pool photo by Steve Mawyer
The First Abortion Doctor Killed: David Gunn
Dr. David Gunn was shot and killed by an opponent of abortion during a protest outside his clinic in Pensacola, Fla. His death was the first known killing of an abortion provider in the United States, according to the National Abortion Federation, an advocacy group.
The gunman, Michael F. Griffin, shot Dr. Gunn three times in the back as he approached the rear entrance of the clinic, and Mr. Griffin turned himself over to the police just moments later, telling them, “I’ve just shot Dr. Gunn.”
Mr. Griffin was convicted of the murder in March 1994 and was sentenced to life in prison.
The murder of Dr. Gunn was not the first time that Pensacola had been the site of anti-abortion violence, and it would not be the last. On Christmas Day in 1984, two doctors’ offices and a clinic were bombed by opponents of abortion who were later arrested, convicted and jailed.
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Paul Hill on death row in Florida in September 1995. Credit Gene Bednarek/Silver Image for The New York Times
Former Pastor Kills a Doctor and Clinic Volunteer
Anti-abortion violence returned to Pensacola one year after the death of Dr. Gunn when Paul J. Hill, a well-known anti-abortion protester, shot and killed Dr. John Bayard Britton and a clinic volunteer, James H. Barrett, outside a women’s health center in July 1994. Mr. Barrett’s wife, June, was also wounded in the shooting.
Mr. Hill, a former minister, was well known for advocating violence against abortion doctors, and he had praised the killing of Dr. Gunn. He was arrested shortly after the shooting as he tried to flee the scene, the police said at the time.
He was convicted in December 1994 of first-degree murder and was sentenced to death.
In the interview before his execution in 2003, Mr. Hill said that the killing of Dr. Gunn in 1993 had inspired him to kill Dr. Britton.
”I believe in the short and long term, more and more people will act on the principles for which I stand,” he said. ”I’m willing and I feel very honored that they are most likely going to kill me for what I did.”
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The casket of Dr. George Tiller is loaded into a waiting hearse after his funeral at College HIll United Methodist Church in Wichita, Kansas. Credit Steve Hebert for The New York Times
George Tiller, Twice a Target, Is Killed in 2009
Dr. George Tiller, one of the few doctors in the United States who provided abortions late in pregnancy, was a frequent target of anti-abortion violence and was killed in 2009 by Scott Roeder as he stood in the foyer of his church.
A witness who was serving as an usher alongside Dr. Tiller at the church that day told the court that Mr. Roeder entered the foyer, put a gun to the doctor’s head and pulled the trigger.
At trial, Mr. Roeder admitted to killing Dr. Tiller and said he did it to protect unborn babies. He was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. At his sentencing, he told the court that God’s judgment would ”sweep over this land like a prairie wind.”
Dr. Tiller was shot once before, in 1993, by Shelley Shannon, an anti-abortion activist who compared abortion providers to Hitler and said she believed that “justifiable force” was necessary to stop abortions.
Ms. Shannon was sentenced to 10 years in prison for the shooting of Dr. Tiller and later confessed to vandalizing and burning a string of abortion clinics in California, Nevada and Oregon.
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John Salvi was carried out of the courtroom by court officers after he held up a written statement in an attempt to communicate with members of the news media. Credit Pool Photo Reuters
Two Killed at Abortion Clinics Near Boston
John Salvi shot and killed two receptionists and injured five other people at two abortion clinics in suburban Boston in December 1994. He was arrested days later in Norfolk, Va., moments after opening fire at an abortion clinic there.
The victims, Shannon Lowney, 25, and Leanne Nichols, 38, worked at separate Planned Parenthood clinics on the same street in Brookline, Mass. Witnesses said that Mr. Salvi, dressed in all black, entered both buildings, confirmed they were abortion clinics and opened fire.
Mr. Salvi, whose lawyer said he experienced schizophrenic delusions, was convicted of murder in March 1996 and sentenced to two terms of life in prison. He died in jail of an apparent suicide in November 1996.
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James Kopp, center, is led by two Erie County Sheriff's officers into court August 19, 2002 in Buffalo, New York. Credit Getty Images
James Kopp, Suspect in Canada, Is Convicted of a Killing in New York
James Kopp was convicted of the murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian, an obstetrician who provided abortion services in the Buffalo area, and has been named a suspect in the shooting of several abortion providers in Canada.
Mr. Kopp hid in the woods behind Dr. Slepian’s home in October 1998 and shot him through the window with a high-powered rifle, killing him as he stood in his kitchen with his family. Dr. Slepian had just returned from a memorial service for his father when he was killed.
Mr. Kopp spent several years on the run in Mexico, Ireland and France before he was captured and extradited to the Unites States. He was convicted of a state charge of second-degree murder in 2003 and sentenced to 25 years in jail. He was convicted in 2007 on a separate federal charge and sentenced to life in prison.
The authorities in Canada also suspect Mr. Kopp in the nonlethal attacks on several abortion providers there who were shot through the windows of their homes. He was charged with the 1995 attempted murder of Dr. Hugh Short, an abortion provider in Ontario, although the charges were dropped after his conviction in New York.
The police in Canada also named him a suspect in the 1997 shooting of Dr. Jack Fainman in Winnipeg and the 1994 shooting of Dr. Garson Romalis in Vancouver, which was the first attack on an abortion provider in Canada.
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The body of Robert Sanderson, an off-duty police officer working as a security guard at a clinic in Birmingham, Ala., was covered by a yellow sheet after he was killed by a remote-controlled bomb. Credit Steve Gates for The New York Times
Olympic Bomber Also Struck a Birmingham Clinic
A remote-controlled nail bomb exploded outside a clinic that performed abortions in Birmingham, Ala., in January 1998, instantly killing Robert Sanderson, an off-duty police officer working as a security guard there, and badly injuring Emily Lyons, a nurse who was left maimed and half-blind by the blast.
The bomb was planted and detonated by Eric Rudolph, a violent opponent of abortion who also bombed the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, killing one person, Alice Hawthorne, and injuring more than 100. Mr. Rudolph said he bombed the Olympics to anger and embarrass the United States as a punishment for its legalization of abortion.
As part of a plea deal, Mr. Rudolph pleaded guilty in 2005 to the Olympic bombing as well as to the Birmingham clinic bombing and the bombings of two more clinics and a gay bar in Atlanta. He avoided the death penalty but was given four life sentences in prison and an additional 120 years.
In remarks at his sentencing, Mr. Rudolph expressed remorse for the Olympic bombing, but he called violence against abortion providers “a moral duty” and said he had “fought a good fight.”
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