Women's groups say anthrax threats won't intimidate
them
By Sue
Davis
New York
Galen Sherwin, president of the New York chapter of the
National Organization for Women, opened a letter stained with
brown powder on Feb. 22. Inside a message read: "Anthrax. Have
a nice Death." She was quarantined for six hours until the
letter was proven to be a hoax.
On the same day similar letters were received at Planned
Parenthood clinics in Kansas City, Mo., and in Delaware, and at
the national office of the National Abortion and Reproductive
Rights Action League. The next day, a clinic in Pittsburgh was
also targeted.
The National Abortion Federation reports that approximately
two dozen clinics have received anthrax threats--all
hoaxes--over the last two weeks. However, this is the first
time women's advocacy organizations like NOW and NARAL have
been targeted.
Threatening contamination with anthrax has become the right
wing's latest form of terrorism against women's right to choose
abortion. Anthrax, a highly infectious bacterial disease
usually found in sheep and cattle, is transmitted through the
air and can kill within days of contact.
Recent outbreaks of anthrax have been reported in Iraq,
where vaccines to stop the infection are no longer produced
because of U.S.-imposed sanctions.
After the ordeal, Sherwin issued a news release noting that
"right-wing terrorists will stop at nothing to stop women from
exercising their right to choose." She vowed to continue the
fight to preserve legal abortion, which the Supreme Court
legalized 26 years ago in its Roe vs. Wade decision.
"NOW will keep fighting harder than ever," said Sherwin. "We
will not be intimidated or silenced, because the right [of
women] to control our own bodies is the most fundamental right
we have gained over the past 30 years. And we are not about to
let these hypocrites and thugs take it away from us."
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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