Posted on 11/09/2001 7:29:20 AM PST by Oldeconomybuyer
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:39:02 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Scores of family planning clinics in at least 12 states have received letters containing anthrax threats, according to officials of feminist and abortion-rights organizations.
Eleanor Smeal, president of the Feminist Majority Foundation, said more than 200 clinics and advocacy organizations received letters Thursday delivered in Federal Express envelopes. Envelopes that were opened contained white powder and letters signed by "the Army of God."
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
I'll cry them a river.
To The IDIOTS who are doing it: CUT IT OUT!
(not suggesting that they're here on FR, though)
Also, given the nature of their business excuse me if I can't find a shred of sympathy. Just like I can't find a shred of sympathy for Osama Bin Laden.
That said, I'm against abortion, but think that the Army of God is a militant, nutty organization that allows the left to demonize sincere pro-life people. I have associates and friends who volunteer for anti-abortion groups and protests that agree with me regarding the radicals who believe in murdering abortion doctors, putting every woman who has ever had an abortion on trial for murder, (no forgiveness, education, etc.) and bombing clinics. It's counter-productive, IMHO, just as the events of 9/11 have not made me or most Americans sympathetic towards the Palestinians or blackmailed me into giving in to the militant Muslim world's hate-filled demands. I still don't believe that the Army of God is responsible for this mailing. It sounds like a desperate publicity stunt. I'll bet that the powder turns out to be plain baby powder.
Agents provocateur UNITE.
The perps are sick and stupid. If this is a real story (with Smeal involved I'm not taking bets), they'll catch the sender within days.
I believe you, but do you have a link? I would like to print out the original article.
With war raging and threats to our homeland almost on a daily basis, we don't need publicity hungry wackos pushing their agenda.
From both sides this kind of activity is self-centered, "I demand attention, psychological sickness.
One thing it isn't is "for the children" born or unborn.
prisoner6
The article says the addresses and numbers were forged.
It also mentions the "Army of God" which I have no use for whatsoever. To me TAOG is on par with the Taliban, Jim Jones or any other oppresive religious cult.
They are religious extremists and do nothing to further the por-life movement.
Because I have also worked on stories involving TAOG, I have had occaision to speak with them. And while there have been no direct threats their attitude towards me seems to be either you're for us or against us. And if you're against us there would be no problem in eliminating me if they saw the need. Collateral damage.
Here's the article.
Friday, November 09, 2001
By Dennis B. Roddy, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
Abortion providers around the East Coast, including three in the Pittsburgh area, were targeted yesterday by anthrax threats that bypassed the U.S. mail, the senders instead using Federal Express and forged billing numbers and the return addresses of abortion rights groups.
"You have ignored our earlier warning, so now you will pay -- enclosed is anthrax -- the real thing -- very high quality," said a note accompanying one of an estimated 200 packages that began arriving at 9 a.m.
Security officials for abortion rights groups said the packages contained either white or brown powder, depending on the recipient, and hit clinics throughout the East Coast and mid-South, including ones in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg and Carlisle.
"They even used our account numbers," said Vicki Saporta, executive director of the National Abortion Federation, one of two groups whose return addresses and Federal Express billing numbers were used on the packages.
Kim Evert, director of Planned Parenthood in Pittsburgh, said three satellite clinics -- in Bridgeville, Somerset and Johnstown, Cambria County -- received the threats.
The incident marks the second time since October that abortion providers have received anthrax threats. Last month, 280 clinics around the nation received such threats, including three in Pittsburgh. None of the threats turned out to be real.
Yesterday's threats expanded on the list of targets, with abortion rights advocacy groups receiving threats as well as clinics.
Saporta said the National Abortion Federation began notifying clinics after receiving the first report of the threats, but was interrupted by a bomb threat to its Washington headquarters.
Eleanor Smeal, whose Feminist Majority Foundation was among groups targeted by the threats, said she believed as many as 10 of the packages were opened before the warning went out.
Security officials at the federation and Planned Parenthood were not certain whether the packages were opened at two Planned Parenthood sites in Pittsburgh that received the threats.
Ann Glazier, director of security for the Planned Parenthood Federation, which operates the two Pittsburgh sites, said she knew of 55 affiliates that received the packages.
"But we haven't finished counting," she said. Glazier said her name was used on the return address of some of the envelopes.
The threats were signed by "The Army of God, Virginia Dare Cell." The Army of God, a frequent cover name used by an array of anti-abortion extremists, has been connected with a series of attacks on abortion clinics throughout the nation.
The Army of God Web site, operated by Chesapeake, Va., minister Donald Spitz, made no mention of yesterday's threats. Spitz did not immediately return an e-mail requesting comment.
The group previously attracted attention when Spitz posted an e-mailed message from fugitive abortion clinic stalker Clayton Waagner after his escape from an Illinois jail earlier this year.
Federal Express, notified of the threats, halted delivery of some of similar packages. The FBI opened a wide-ranging investigation into the threats and expects to have test results on the packages available within two days.
Planned Parenthood said yesterday that not all of the packages had arrived at the destinations and believed a number of packages had been sent to undetermined locations in California.
Smeal, of the Feminist Majority Foundation, said she had been told the packages were sent from five locations, including Detroit, Philadelphia and three spots in Northern Virginia. Planned Parenthood said the packages were shipped through the FedEx World Service Center in Philadelphia.
prisoner6
So, have these organizations complained to FedEx for allowing their accounts to be so abused? Shall their own directors of security be fired, having allowed such an atrocious breach of security? Or will nothing happen?
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My own theory is that the abortionists sent these threatening letters to themselves. It wouldn't be the first time they have lied to make a PR or even a legal case. They lied to the Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade, they have lied in numerous other legal cases, so it's a good bet they are lying now.
By the way, just to make myself clear, CUT IT OUT, ARMY OF GOD!!
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