A note on the Minnesota assassination

Authorities reported that the gunman who killed a state representative had a hit list that included several abortion providers and advocates.

As with everyone else in the movement, it caught my attention when it was reported that the Minnesota gunman behind an assemblywoman’s assassination also wanted to kill people within the reproductive rights movement.

CNN was the first to report that Vance Boelter, the man behind the attacks, left several names he intended to kill on a sheet of paper in a car the police found at the scene of the attack. I don’t know who was on the list, as it hasn’t been fully reported yet. But, for anyone who has a prominent role or possesses influence within abortion rights, it’s a stark reminder that it’s a dangerous undertaking that could imperil your life and safety.

In writing my book, I did extensive research on antiabortion terrorism, particularly during its height in the 1980s and 1990s. I remember several conversations that I had over the phone with people who told me harrowing accounts of what they endured to argue for abortion rights.

One of them was Bill Bell, father of Becky Bell, a 17-year-old Indiana teenager who got an illegal abortion because she didn’t want to tell her mom or dad that she was pregnant, as was required by the state’s parental consent law. Becky died after her parents drove her frantically to the hospital following complications from the back-alley procedure.

Afterward, Bill and his wife Karen became staunch opponents of parental notification laws. As they traveled the country, they faced harassment from antiabortion opponents. Sometimes, they brought fetal remains to speeches they gave. That was common. But they also faced death threats. Bill told me that antiabortion terrorists had once loosened the lug nuts on his car’s tires while they were at an event, so the wheels would fly off when they drove home.

Another woman I spoke to was Charlotte Taft, who ran an abortion clinic in Dallas. She told me that she wouldn’t get out of her car until the garage door closed because she feared someone walking up and murdering her.

I interviewed several abortion providers who had their clinics bombed. Others had butyric acid attacks that left a terrible stench in their facilities.

All of this was swirling in my head as I continued to read the news that this man was on the loose. He still is, by the way. For those of us who have an institutional knowledge of the movement, we wondered whether this could end up being like the situation with John Salvi, an antiabortion terrorist who attacked two abortion clinics in Boston before a nationwide manhunt ended after he attacked another one in Virginia.

So did the same fate await Vance Boelter?

None of us knew and still don’t. The only comfort we had was that we weren’t on the list, as the police hadn’t contacted us and told us that they would provide us with police protection until he was found.

This is a dangerous movement to be in. It has been for a long time. There’s no escaping that. All we can do is remain vigilant and courageous in the face of potential dangers, with the resolve to keep moving forward so that the country improves in its treatment and respect for women’s rights.