Today in Anti-Choice Terrorism

[Content Note: Anti-choice terrorism; war on agency.]

Here is what I want: I want one, or ideally both, of the Democratic candidates to give a dedicated address on the erosion of abortion access, and I want them to talk explicitly about stuff like this:

A Planned Parenthood clinic was vandalized in Columbus [this week]. Red paint covered part of the building and was also splashed on the front doors.

...The message of the vandals was clear. Their message said, "Satan Den of Baby Killers God See All, Mark 9:42."

Planned Parenthood did release a statement saying in part, "The individuals responsible for this act hope to send a signal that using acts of violence will intimidate healthcare professionals and the women we serve. They are wrong. At Planned Parenthood, our doors will stay open… No matter what."

...Planned Parenthood also said security measures will remain in place to make sure women can access the healthcare they need.

Volunteers started painting over the signs of vandalism Monday night.

This is terrorism. It is also an "undue burden," if that phrase is to have any meaning at all. People seeking abortions not only have to run a gauntlet of protesters, but have to pass a guard who stands at a door that is covered in evidence of threats against the clinic, its staff, and its patients. The door will be cleaned and repainted, but the memory of this act will linger.

Speaking of those protesters, who have been picketing outside the clinic for months, they claim they had nothing to do with the vandalism terrorism and don't agree with it. And, as always, their primary concern was that they not be held responsible.

Protestor Dave Daubenmire said, "We know everybody is going to point the finger at us that we've done it. But, we've been out here everyday since mid-August and we've had no incidents at all."

...[T]he protesters continued what they call their daily vigil, pleading for lives of babies that will be aborted.

Daubenmire added, "We're more concerned about the red blood that's inside the building than the red paint that is on the outside of it. To us, it is just a distraction of what's really going on inside that place."

Fuck you.

I'm willing to believe that the daily protesters didn't do this horrible thing, but that doesn't absolve them. They stand there yelling all day every day that what's happening inside the clinic is "murder" and then they want to wash their hands of responsibility when someone decides they can't sit idly by while "babies" are being "murdered."

Abortion is not murder. Abortion is healthcare. Abortionists are healthcare providers. Abortion-seeking people are their patients.

Those are the facts, but one doesn't even have to accept them in order to not engage in inflammatory rhetoric that gets people harassed and gets people hurt and gets people killed.

This is not vandalism that exists in a vacuum. It's terrorism that exists in a culture of vicious anti-choice rhetoric, legislation, and violence.

And I want the Democratic candidates to talk about it. Loudly and clearly and often.