“Doctors are bracing to be attacked” after President Donald Trump pardoned nearly two dozen activists convicted of targeting specific providers in recent years, according to a new Mother Jones report.
A Google review claiming “I have a bomb waiting to go off” sent panic through a Florida clinic in November 2023. It’s one of the many threats clinics regularly face.
The FBI investigated, but what some might believe is an isolated incident is actually a part of an “‘immediate spike in major incidents,’ including arsons, burglaries, and death threats” happening at abortion clinics across the United States.
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The National Abortion Federation highlighted this incident and many others, along with the increased threats against abortion clinics, in a recent report.
Laura C. Morel spoke with the organization's chief program officer, Melissa Fowler, about the heightened threats providers and patients have encountered and what else they are expecting to happen.
“In the last few years, we have seen some enforcement and some individuals actually being charged with Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) violations and convicted,” Fowler, told the outlet.
She said Trump’s move to pardon the protesters “sends a very frightening message to our providers across the country. What we’ve seen this year has been unprecedented, with the Department of Justice saying that they’re only going to enforce the FACE Act in grave circumstances. It shouldn’t take someone being murdered for a law to be enforced.”
Fowler also claimed protesters are “more aggressive and more of them are present. They seem to be emboldened by the pardons and the actions from this administration.”
“[Most doctors are preparing] for increased targeting and a lot more hostility," Fowler added. “I think providers are also preparing for more clinic invasions, as some of the people who are pardoned return to those activities.”
Mother Jones noted that violence remains high at clinics, with NAF members reporting 621 trespassing incidents, nearly 300 death threats, 169 acts of vandalism, and nearly 130,000 protests targeting their facilities. Morel said the actual numbers are "likely much higher.”
This is because the NAF report said, “Sadly, many clinic staff also normalize the unacceptable harassment, threats, and violence they endure, which likely contributes to underreporting.”
