Florida
African American abortion provider framed
By Naomi
Cohen
In a clear case of racist and anti-woman collusion between
right-wing, anti-abortion Florida officials and the Federal
government, Dr. James Pendergraft, an African American Ob/Gyn
and high risk obstetrician, was sentenced on May 24 in Federal
court in Florida to 46 months in prison.
Dr. Pendergraft was convicted on trumped up charges of
"extortion." His real "crime" was opening a women's health
clinic that provided abortions in Ocala, Fla., in 1997. The
last women's clinic to open in that city was burned to the
ground in 1989, but the arsonists were never prosecuted.
According to attorney Lucinda Finley, who is representing
Dr. Pendergraft in the appeals process, the trumped up charges
grow out of Dr. Pendergraft's threat to sue Marion County
officials for failing to provide protection for his clinic when
it came under intense attack by violent anti-abortion
demonstrators.
And according to a press release put out by the Right to
Fight Defense Committee, this is the first time in U.S. history
that anyone has been convicted of federal extortion for
"threatening to sue." In fact, the release points out, Dr.
Pendergraft was convicted for utilizing the appropriate legal
channels to seek reasonable protection for himself, his
employees, and his patients.
The conviction and sentencing of Dr. Pendergraft are clearly
aimed at further restricting access to abortion for all women
and terrorizing doctors from providing this much-needed
service. Florida in particular has an infamous history of
anti-abortion violence.
Since 1993, Dr. David Gunn, Dr. John Britton and escort
James Barrett were murdered at the hands of anti-abortion
terrorists outside the Pensacola clinics where they provided
abortions. In addition, clinic fire bombings, threats of
anthrax poisoning, acid attacks and demonstrations by the Ku
Klux Klan in sheets and white robes testify to the ongoing
racist and anti-woman campaign.
The targeting of Dr. Pendergraft illustrates also the way
the federal government, in particular the FBI and the courts,
have joined in the campaign to deny women their right to
abortion. The judge who presided over the trial refused to
grant a change of venue out of the reactionary Marion County
area and did not question prospective jurors about their
personal views on abortion.
The county commission, the FBI case agent, and the attorney
for the county all admitted to being anti-abortion and all
belong to the area churches that organized the campaign against
Dr. Pendergraft and his clinic.
In addition to the fact that Dr. Pendergraft operates five
clinics that provide abortions as well as other health services
to women in Florida, he is nationally known as a specialist in
high-risk termination procedures, which few doctors are
qualified to do. Therefore the attack on Dr. Pendergraft is
also part of the right-wing campaign to end late-term
abortions. Many young girls and women from all over the country
are referred to him when they have nowhere else to go to get
these abortions.
At a meeting in New York City on May 21, just before his
sentencing, Dr. Pendergraft explained that he had been trained
in maternal-fetal medicine. In that capacity, he saw many women
whose fetuses had no chance of survival, yet were forced to
continue with their pregnancies for lack of the option of
late-term abortions.
As a medical student, he also witnessed women dying or
rendered sterile as a result of back alley abortions. It was
then that Dr. Pendergraft resolved to learn safe abortion
procedures in order to provide the care that women needed.
At a time when few doctors are being trained in abortion
procedures, and those few that are trained are under enormous
pressure to stop, the defense of Dr. Pendergraft is an
essential part of the struggle for women's right to choose.
Funds are needed to help in the legal defense and may be
sent to: Orlando Women's Center, Attention: Right to Fight
Defense Committee, 1103 Lucern Terrace, Orlando, FL 32806. For
more information, see the Defense Committee website at:
www.righttofight.org.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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