Friday, November 20, 1998
Murder highlights abortion issues
CLINICS: Recent violence won’t deter local centers from working
as normal
By Jakub Oleksy
Daily Bruin Contributor
The Oct. 22 murder of Dr. Barnett Slepian in Buffalo, N.Y. is
the latest in a series of violent acts against abortion
providers.
Beginning in January 1998 with the bombing of a clinic in
Birmingham, Ala., there has been a steady increase in severe
violence against abortion clinics.
Slepian’s death raised the number of abortion-related murders to
seven in the past five years.
Despite growing clinic violence, students at UCLA can still find
help with unwanted pregnancies, since clinics in California
continue to provide abortions to women who want them.
"We’re here to serve a purpose," said Barbara Spalione, manager
of the Whittier Planned Parenthood Center. "I wouldn’t give them
the satisfaction by closing down."
The UCLA Student Health Center offers women counseling and
refers them to reputable clinics that will perform abortions, said
Anne Brooks, a nurse practitioner and nurse manager of the Women’s
Clinic at UCLA.
"We give a student a wide range of options, from clinics to
private offices," Brooks said. "We are almost impossibly
non-judgmental. We won’t tell someone what to do."
Many students, however, choose not take this issue to the
Student Health Center because they seek greater privacy, Brooks
said.
Centers such as the Glendale and Hollywood Pregnancy Centers
provide information on the consequences of abortions for women who
are considering them.
"Women have been given a choice by the government and deserve
information to make the right choice," said Janel Thomas, director
of communications and donor relations of the Glendale Pregnancy
Help Clinic.
"We don’t encourage abortion," Thomas said. "We provide
information on physical and psychological risks."
Women can be referred to many clinics in the surrounding area,
Brooks said.
One of these clinics is the Ranta-Flemming Man Clinic in the
UCLA Medical Plaza.
This obstetrician gynecologist (OBGYN) clinic provides a wide
variety of services – including performing abortions – for the
surrounding community. Another clinic, the Westwood Women’s Center,
also provides women with care.
Women at UCLA can take advantage of California’s abundance of
abortion providers.
California provides considerably more clinics than most other
states, Thomas said.
Also, California remains one of 14 states which use taxpayer
money to fund abortions.
In 1996, there were 113,000 abortions in California, costing
taxpayers $37 million.
"California is slightly more liberal than other states," said
Deni Robey, a spokesperson for Planned Parenthood in Los Angeles.
"Most people (here) are pro-choice."
Violence at abortion clinics across the country, however, has
not been ignored in California.
In the past year, there have been two murders; one bombing;
poisonous chemical attacks in Florida, Louisiana and Texas; and
countless other acts of violence against abortion providers,
according to the National Abortion Federation.
"The vast majority (of protesters) won’t do anything violent,"
Robey said. "But we are always vigilant and careful. We have very
good security."
Many clinics have bullet-proof glass, security systems and gated
entrances, according to Robey.
"We’ve always taken precautions," Spalione said.
Protesters show up at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Whittier
five times a week. The extent of recent damage has been graffiti,
broken windows and uprooted landscape, according to Spalione.
"They have not been nice, but not really bad either," she
said.
In spite of such incidences, California’s clinics continue to
provide women with important resources and services to make the
right choice.
"We live in a highly liberal state and a liberal campus," said
Kevin Truong, a first-year biology student.
"There is a lot of diversity at this school and people just
accept a wide variety of views, abortion being just one of many,"
he said.
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