CWA 1180 Training and Education

Domestic terrorism targets reproductive healthcare workers
1180 members face harassment and threats to help women control their own lives
March 2002

Local 1180 member Carolyn J. is a business associate in a healthcare clinic. "I deal with patients when they first come in, for payment and things like that." It's a job where the greatest risk should be the occasional paper cut. But instead, it's one where "we take our lives in our hands every day we go in there and come out," explained Carolyn.

That's because the clinic she works for provides reproductive healthcare services for women, including abortions, and the organization she works for is Planned Parenthood, the number one target of anti-abortion terrorists.

Carolyn is one of 60 Local 1180 members who work for Planned Parenthood. Some 40 of them work in a clinic, as business associates like Carolyn, as counselors and in other positions; the clinic provides gynecological services, family planning, and abortions. Another 20 work in the phone room (a separate bargaining unit), handling the organization's scheduling operation. All of them have dealt with harassment, bomb threats, anthrax threats and more. Some of them, like Carolyn who has been there for 15 years, remember when their office was actually bombed in the mid-eighties. "It happened on a Sunday—thank God," she recalled.

"In my six years here, I've lived through about three bomb scares and a couple of other threats. And every weekend is a challenge because of the protesters," said Kim B., who started working at Planned Parenthood in the phone room and now works as a counselor.

"Mainly it's harassment from the protesters," Tonya M.-T. explained. "Every Saturday. And it's scary, because they know who we are. They yell at you, 'killer,' 'baby killer.' Every Saturday. We have to walk right by them. They label us all as killers. They have to realize we don't just do abortions," added Tonya, who works as a business associate in the family planning part of the clinic.

"These men are very vicious," said Carolyn, talking about the Saturday protesters. It's a small group, and the sole woman is quiet and non-threatening. "But the men—they're grabbing patients, yelling 'nigger this, you killing your baby' and stuff."

Vanessa B. works in the phone room. She remembers a few occasions, "like only two," she said, when phone threats came through the phone room. ("Only" two threats!) "It was like, 'you people are going to f___ing die'," she recalled. "When I first started the job, I wasn't aware that I shouldn't be wearing my ID, which says Planned Parenthood on it, on the outside," Vanessa remembered. "There was this man on the subway who started yelling at me, 'you baby killer.' It was scary." Vanessa put her own experience in the following perspective: "I've heard some real horror stories, but I have to be thankful." Thankful that the worst that she's experienced is one fanatic screaming at her in the subway and a couple of threatening phone calls.

Security is a union issue

It's been common in the last several months to hear politicians and pundits talk about how September 11 was the first time that terrorism hit American soil. But it's not true. Anyone who remembers the four girls who died in the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963 knows better—not to mention hundreds of other bombings in the Deep South, thousands of lynchings and more than a century of racist terrorism. And like the 1180 members at Planned Parenthood, anyone who works in women's reproductive healthcare knows better, too.

Since 1993, seven clinic workers—three doctors, two clinic employees, a clinic escort and a security guard—have been murdered. There have also been 17 attempted murders since 1991. Overall, there have been over 3,600 acts of violence against abortion providers since 1977, as well as another 60,000 acts of disruptions. These include 41 bombings, 165 arsons, 942 acts of vandalism, 100 butyric acid attacks, 122 assaults, 3 kidnappings, 554 bomb threats and 343 death threats. Last fall, we were all horrified to learn that letters laced with anthrax were sent to media and senatorial offices. What most of us never heard is that 520 letters purporting to contain anthrax were sent to reproductive health clinics in October and November. Fortunately, all of them tested negative for anthrax. But clearly terrorists have set their sights on anyone involved in helping women exercise their Constitutional rights.

Given all this, security issues are naturally high on Planned Parenthood workers' list of priorities, and the union has been a prime means through which 1180 members have addressed their concerns and sought changes. "The union's helped with security issues, and we're working on that now, too," said Carolyn, who is the shop steward for the clinic unit. Opinions among workers varied as to how well they felt management handled security. Part of the variation has to do with where people work in the building and the different kinds of risks they face. All of them agreed that without a strong union shop things would be worse. People also unanimously felt that they needed the union to win respect from management generally.

"The ladies in the phone room are very boisterous," said Vanessa with a laugh. She's the steward in the phone unit and explained that she meant that the workers there spoke up and stood up for themselves and management knew it. Overall, she felt that "having a union shop has made security better. [Management] made us aware that threats were being made and that they were taking precautions. And they are taking precautions. I have no problem with how they've handled things."

"There's a security guard at the front desk that checks bags of patients, staff, visitors. And a metal detector," explained Tonya. But, she added, "I feel security needs to be better." Her concern—which can't be described here because the information could conceivably be used by anti-abortion terrorists against the clinic—is shared by Carolyn, who works in the same area, and has been raised repeatedly as a union issue.

The other security issue that's come up as a union issue has to do with when and how to alert staff to bomb threats. "We find out about bomb scares when they're already over. We see cops around, and we get a memo a day later. The agency takes it upon themselves to make a choice for us, to stay or go," said Carolyn.

"The only thing I wouldn't agree with," echoed Kim, "is if administration gets any kind of threat, as far as staff members go, I think we should be alerted. It's not just for our sake, it's for the patients, too. If something, god forbid, actually happens, we can get people out safely. But there are people under anesthesia, people in recovery, we need to be ready when a threat is made in case it turns out to be real."

Local 1180 Staff Rep Gwen Richardson has been meeting with workers and management to hammer out a system that would address this concern. A basic agreement has been reached, in which workers would be alerted to threats when they are made, but it has not yet been finalized or implemented.

Keeping choice available

In February 2001, anti-abortion terrorist Clayton Waagner escaped from prison. In June, the man on a self-described mission from God to kill abortion providers posted a threat on the Army of God website. "Anyone who works at an abortion location or Planned Parenthood (I don't care if their location actually performs abortions or not. ALL Planned Parenthood locations are tagets.) It doesn't matter if you're a nurse, receptionist, bookkeeper, or janitor, if you work for the murderous abortionist I'm going to kill you."

In the fall, when hundreds of anthrax threats were sent to abortion providers, Waagner was the prime suspect. Local 1180 members at Planned Parenthood remember it well, because a memo was circulated with his picture, and the agency began scanning and opening all the mail as a precaution. Waagner was recaptured on December 5, 2001.

"I figured for every one I killed, I'd get another one to quit," Waagner said about his mission.

Unfortunately, anti-abortion terrorism has indeed succeeded in getting doctors and hospitals to stop providing abortions. There has been an almost 50% reduction in the number of hospitals where abortions are performed since 1980. Every year committed doctors beaten down by death threats and harassment quit their jobs. In 1996, 86% of all U.S. counties had no abortion provider; 94% of all rural counties had no provider. The entire state of North Dakota has only one clinic.

Local 1180 members at Planned Parenthood are proud to do their part to keep reproductive choice available for women, and they say it's worth it despite the anxiety they feel because of the danger. "I do love the job," said Vanessa, "I do like helping patients, especially the teenagers. I have a daughter, and I'm trying to raise her right. I treat them the way I would want someone to treat my daughter."

"I like helping the patients," said Tonya. "I feel good when I can assist them. And they make me feel good when they say 'thank you, thank you.'"

"If I was on a psychiatrist's couch, they'd say it was me trying to save the world," joked Kim when asked why she liked her job. "I can't understand how women don't know so much about themselves. I feel like giving them that information empowers them. And helps them make better decisions for themselves, and for their children. I feel good, every day I come away knowing I helped somebody. And I get a lot of that back; I get letters and cards from patients. I believe it's worth it," worth the bomb scares and harassment, that is.

"I've had family members tell me what it was like in an era before there were doctors to help," Kim continued, "when you had to go to some back alley, get up on a table and take care of your business. I can't see going back to that."

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