Posted on 10/16/2001 7:50:26 AM PDT by Alas
Abortion Rights Group Gets Suspicious Letters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A leading U.S. abortion rights group said on Monday that 90 of its clinics and offices in at least 13 states had received envelopes containing threatening letters and an unidentified powdery substance.
Planned Parenthood (news - web sites) Federation of America said some of the letters included messages from a group called the Army of God, a militant anti-abortion group that has advocated violence against medical personnel who perform abortions.
A spokesman for Planned Parenthood, who asked not to be quoted by name, said the letters were delivered to the organization's national offices and numerous local offices and medical facilities those offices operate. Abortions are performed at many of those facilities, as well as various health services for women.
The group said there have been no reported injuries and that law enforcement officials, including FBI (news - web sites) investigators, were conducting tests on the powdery substance to determine whether it was anthrax bacterium spores.
The news comes amid a nationwide scare involving the potentially deadly bacteria that could be used as a biological warfare agent. The spokesman for the group said initial field test on the substance in letters received at two locations had come back as negative for anthrax. One of the letters had been sent to offices in Greensboro, North Carolina. The spokesman said he did not know the location that received the second letter that tested negative.
Planned Parenthood said the envelopes were mailed to Planned Parenthood offices bearing postmarks from four cities: Atlanta; Columbus, Ohio; and Chattanooga and Knoxville, Tennessee. The spokesman said he believed all the letters were received on Monday. The offices and clinics receiving the letters are located in the East Coast and Midwest, the group said. ``All of them are in the hands of various authorities around the country. As far as we can tell, they all came today in regular mail,'' the spokesman said.
Planned Parenthood said the letters had pre-printed return addresses from the U.S. Marshall's Office and the Secret Service. Some had a message stating, ``Time Sensitive -- Urgent Security Notice -- Open Immediately.'' The spokesman said he could not provide a copy of any of the letters.
``With this many incidents and with the similarity of all of the letters, this is clearly a coordinated effort that was designed to terrorize our staff and affiliates. And people have the right to know about it,'' the spokesman said. In a statement, Planned Parenthood President Gloria Feldt said: ``It is perverse that these individuals here at home, who are themselves terrorists by virtue of their actions, would seek to capitalize on the events of the last days and weeks to further their own extremist agenda. But this will not deter us from our mission of providing essential health services to women in this nation.''
``Whether a hoax or not, these are intolerable acts of terror, and every effort must be made to apprehend the perpetrators,'' Feldt added. Eric Robert Rudolph, the man charged with carrying out the fatal bombings at Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park during the 1996 Olympics and at a Birmingham, Alabama in 1998, among other bombings, has been linked to the Army of God. A spokeswoman for the FBI national office had no comment on the investigation and referred calls to the agency's field office that handles Washington. Calls to that office were not returned.
It would not suprise me that some fanatical group within PP had decided that this was a good opportunity to generate sympathy, so they mailed out hoax letters.
But this theory that there weren't even any letters is so stupid as to defy reason. And then there is the fact that if you call this moron on his stupidity, you are accused of being pro-abortion. It is this kind of intellectual masturbation that makes FR look bad.
You bet - all my little buddies, and all my little sisters, too - every little one who is still subjected to the ruthless barbarism of the abortionist's knife. They are too small to defend themselves against you, but if you were ever to try picking on someone your own size you would quickly discover that others can.
Cordially,
If you had a glimmer of understanding about practical matters that don't have to do with "perpetual emotion" (which seems to be your tendency), you might consider that finite resources have to be utilized in a judicious manner.
As I say, you aren't "proving" anything, you're simply giving your opinion. And it is FINE to do so. I simply appreciate dispassionate logic more than I do passionate rhetoric.
Perhaps that extremist group is Planned Parenthood, and perhaps Planned Parenthood is trying to capitalize on this by having it's opponents arrested.
I wouldn't put such a Stalinistic tactic past these people.
It doesn't make sense but there are many on the right wing who are more than happy to see resrictions on Constitutional rights.
Plenty who want to bedroom spy and dictate what kind of sex people can have and who they can have it with. Plenty enough posts here from right wingers who champion sodomy laws and want to see them vigorously enforced.
Plenty of people who (if brought to it's logical conclusion) would delight in seeing women imprisoned if they are poor, made a mistake, had a condom break on them, had medication interact with their birth control pill...were raped...and became pregnant and then wished to have an abortion.
Plenty of right wingers who couldn't be happier with the War on Some Drugs and the unconstitutional searches and seizures that accompany it.
Plenty who want to install a theocracy, institute mandatory bible studies and a Jesus state.
It doesn't make sense but any perusal of FR shows that many right wingers are for the very things they despise in the left.
They justify it because it's *their* causes.
"Thanks for the info, tho.
You're welcome.
-- James Madison
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How did the police get positive results (even false positive), on letters that didn't exist?
I'm not sure that is in question. I suspect that all the envelopes from a single location (Atlanta, say) used the same paper and ink. The question is whether the AoG has cells in many different places around the country to send letters on the same day from the different locations. PP certainly does. RtL certainly does, although they are not a suspect. Does AoG?
Shalom.
Isn't that statistically improbable?
Check out this, uh, editorial from the Boston Globe today: Ask clinics about fear. Feldt makes some interesting statements.
If you ask me, this is a telling sentence. NBC was shut down. The house was shut down. Why not any PP clinics? Is it because the business is just too profitible? Is it because they care about the women too much to keep them away from their abortions (no matter how great the chance of infection)? Or is it because they knew this was no threat?
Inquiring minds want to know. That would not apply to Ellen McNamara, however.
Shalom.
I thoroughly agree.
NBC was shut down. The house was shut down. Why not any PP clinics? Is it because the business is just too profitible?
Indubitably.
Is it because they care about the women too much...
How can you type that with a straight face?
...to keep them away from their abortions (no matter how great the chance of infection)?
I've read that clinic "counselors" work very hard to get potential clients in as soon as possible and not give them any time to change their minds.
Or is it because they knew this was no threat?
That occurred to me, also. I don't see how else they could have ignored the massive liability they could incur. And I bet they have very deep pockets.
Inquiring minds want to know. That would not apply to Ellen McNamara, however. LOL :)
BTW, earlier on FOX, the streaming headline thing said PP reported 30 of their clinics received 94 of these letters. The first two times it scrolled by it said 10 letters had tested negative. Then that little "reassuring" bit of info disappeared.
I did a little research. The reason Planned Parenthood, its clinics, and the other clinics were able to respond so swiftly is because they have been the victims of these kind of terrorists attacks for years.
Most clinics probably did stay open. The ones that received no direct threat. The rest, I'm sure, did everything necessary to safeguard the health of their employees and patients.
TomG, I apologize for "baiting" you.
Actually, when I was about 13 I noticed my face was a little bit crooked. I was devistated until I learned that nobody has a perfectly symmetrical face. But, if I can believe the mirror I never do anything with a straight face. ;)
Shalom.
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