Bush DOJ Failed to Enforce Federal Law Protecting Abortion Providers from Anti-Abortion Extremists
Bush DOJ Failed to Enforce Federal Law Protecting Abortion Providers from Anti-Abortion Extremists
In the wake of the murder of Dr. George Tiller by an anti-abortion extremist, the very real problem of extremist violence against abortion providers and clinics has gained a fresh spotlight, even though that violence is not new. After the 1993 murder of an abortion provider, Dr. David Gunn, Congress passed the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which made any use of “force, threat of force or physical obstruction” against doctors and patients a federal crime. The law was an attempt to put an end to the constant wave of death threats, acts of vandalism, and clinic bombings.
According to the National Abortion Federation, the “FACE law has had a clear impact on the decline in certain types of violence against clinics and providers, specifically clinic blockades.” Under the Bush Administration, however, criminal and civil enforcement of the law by the Department of Justice declined dramatically, the Washington Independent’s Daphne Eviatar reports:
The day after Dr. George Tiller was murdered, TWI obtained data revealing that under the Bush administration, criminal enforcement of the federal law designed to protect abortion providers and clinics had declined by more than 75 percent over the last eight years.
But there’s also a civil component to that federal law, known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act. That part of the law allows the attorney general to seek an injunction and compensatory damages for anyone who’s been harmed by any activity that violates the law. And it turns out that the Department of Justice over the last eight years didn’t use that part of the law to protect abortion providers, either.
Eviatar found that, according to DOJ statistics, the Bush Administration “brought only about two criminal prosecutions per year in the entire country under the FACE Act, and never more than four in any single year.” In contrast, under President Clinton the Justice Department “prosecuted 17 defendants for violations of the FACE Act in 1997 alone, and an average of about 10 per year since the law was enacted in 1994.” Evitar reports though that the Bush Justice Department had an even more abysmal record of enforcing the civil component of the FACE Act:
Yet despite these broad powers that Congress granted the attorney general in 1994 to prevent and combat violence against abortion clinics and providers, the Bush administration almost never used them. From 2000 until 2008, during the eight years of the Bush administration, the Justice Department filed only one civil case under the FACE Act. From 1994 until 1999, in contrast, in just five years of the Clinton administration, the Department filed 17 civil cases under the FACE Act — in addition to its much heavier load of criminal cases that we’ve reported before.
Between 2000 and 2008, the National Abortion Federation recorded 3,291 acts of violence against abortion providers and “at least 17 cases of ‘extreme’ violence against abortion providers in the United States, such as arson, stabbing and bomb attacks.” However, the Bush Administration’s Department of Justice “prosecuted only 11 individuals for any acts of violence against abortion clinics or providers.”
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Maddow had more on this last week.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:26 pmCan we just cut the headline to “Bush failed” and let it go at that?
June 12th, 2009 at 5:27 pmThat is not at all surprising. The Bush DOJ was probably the least effective DOJ in the history of othis country.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:30 pmCaption Contest: “Didja know you can steer these podium things? Vroom vroom, heh eh!”
June 12th, 2009 at 5:32 pmWhen BushCo say they kept us safe for 7 1/2 years, the us doesn’t include pro-choice Americans.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:35 pmBush DOJ failed…
Imagine that.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:37 pmThe last 8 years were a total hemorrhage of lives and money. It’s as if the US body was infected with George W. Ebola and are just now incrementally recovering after fever and delusions…though why the results of the new ‘immuno-stimulant’ “Obama” are not living up to the claims on the label or the commercials is troubling….
June 12th, 2009 at 5:39 pmBush failed to keep the people safe?
So much for that rediculous argument from the Busch Bots…
June 12th, 2009 at 5:46 pmGeorge W. Bush: WORST PRESIDENT EVER
June 12th, 2009 at 5:46 pmWow, seeing that idiot bush behind that podium with the presidential seal is going to make me puke. Hoodathunkit at #2 you are absolutly right, bush failed.He pretty muched failed at everything he has ever done.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:46 pmBut Bush also actively failed to keep these people safe. This is a much worse situation than neglect. bush is guilty of abandoning his sworn duty to protect the citizenry.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:49 pmMaybe this is the straw that makes the DOJ blink. bets?
sscncturn64 Says:
you are absolutly right, bush failed.He pretty muched failed at everything he has ever done.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
______________
Now that’s not true and you know it. He succeeded in dodging the draft, remember?
June 12th, 2009 at 5:49 pmBut I thought the republicans were the party of LAW & ORDER.
Oh that’s right, when they’re in charge, they get to pick and choose which laws to enforce.
So any laws that have to do with; the environment, health, safety, labor ,or women, are optional.
June 12th, 2009 at 5:56 pmThere was no profit or power incentive to protect abortion clinics so why should they be bothered?
June 12th, 2009 at 5:56 pmDUH!
June 12th, 2009 at 6:00 pmWhat did you expect from the lunatic fringe that was the Bush Administration?
Submit your opinion at CounterPointNation
June 12th, 2009 at 6:01 pmTerrorist Bush didn’t protect abortion providers from right-wing anti-abortion terrorists? What a surprise…
June 12th, 2009 at 6:03 pmyes, elbruce @1… my first reaction also…
could it be that the Washington Independent’s Daphne Eviatar was inspired by all that information that rachel put out right away?
as in that night and the next…
regardless… it was obvious from rachel’s reporting that bushco was turning a blind eye…
June 12th, 2009 at 6:07 pm“Chimpy’s DOJ…”
What else should we expect from a gang of Regent “University” grads?
June 12th, 2009 at 6:13 pmTo my knowledge there has been no arrest fro Wiley Drake, a pastor in Buena Park, CA who is out there praying for, on his radio show for Obama’s death.
Ray Taliaferro talked of this on his show the entire 4 hrs. see archives, Friday, June 12 1am to 5am.
June 12th, 2009 at 6:17 pmBush is a member of a known terrorist organization. He needs to be sent to gitmo for some enhanced interrogation. We don’t want the smoking gun to be in the form of a mushroom cloud…
June 12th, 2009 at 6:18 pmBush ruined everything. for whatever reason. to reshape it afterwords in his own image, or some equally crazy reason, but he did it, and the elected reps, the MSM, and the system watched and did nothing almost nothing to stop him.
Now we find out that the MSM hired dirtbags to help Bush ruin everything. Now the MSM is mostly responsible for ruining everything, until another republican can resume where Bush left off.
June 12th, 2009 at 6:22 pmBetween 2000 and 2008, the National Abortion Federation recorded 3,291 acts of violence against abortion providers and “at least 17 cases of ‘extreme’ violence against abortion providers in the United States, such as arson, stabbing and bomb attacks.” However, the Bush Administration’s Department of Justice “prosecuted only 11 individuals for any acts of violence against abortion clinics or providers.”
BushCo had no stomach for protecting providers and their staffs who fulfilled the idea of “choice”.
But imagine if there were 3,291 acts of violence against Christian Fundies which resulted in only 11 prosecutions during a Democrat’s administration. Oh, the outrage!
PEACE
June 12th, 2009 at 6:24 pmTo say that Bush failed implies that he made a good faith effort to try to succeed in the first place…
June 12th, 2009 at 6:28 pmGeorge succeeded quite well in doing just what Dick and Karl told him to do…
June 12th, 2009 at 6:35 pm“enforcement of the law by the Department of Justice declined dramatically”
The entire country declined dramatically under Bush’s Republic Fascist Party rule…
…it’s what WAR CRIMINALS do.
Fcuk the Republic Fascist Party
June 12th, 2009 at 6:41 pmBush and the word FAILURE are synonomous ………
June 12th, 2009 at 7:01 pmsooo, does this mean it is legally sound to stop those pro-hate d-bags from buying a property from a business they destroyed, and turning it into a hate-shrine.
June 12th, 2009 at 7:12 pmWhen you politicize the Department of Justice, you undermine the rule of law. The fascist Republican Party has made it their practice to ignore laws they do not agree with, and violate any law they want to, with impunity.
We must never again allow wingnuts to regain power.
June 12th, 2009 at 7:14 pmAnd another cherished chestnut of republican spin, namely that Bush kept Americans safe for 7 1/2 years, is consumed by the truth, which is that he selectively chose which Americans deserved protection, and which didn’t.
June 12th, 2009 at 7:21 pmSpenser’s mom: right, as usual, except for the last part, there won’t be peace for a long time…
June 12th, 2009 at 7:27 pmBilbo Hussein Baggins Says:
That is not at all surprising. The Bush DOJ was probably the least effective DOJ in the history of othis country.
I’d say the entire Bush administration was the most BARBARIC AND CRIMINAL administration in the history of this country!!!
Why is this monster allowed to spend his life in luxury and peace? He should be in JAIL!!
June 12th, 2009 at 7:44 pmThis illustrates the dire consequences of stacking the DOJ with cronies.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:16 pmThe name “wiley” is being dragged through the mud. Think of me as “wileywitch”. Thank you.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:52 pmI think of you as wileycoyote. Super-Genius!
June 12th, 2009 at 8:58 pmUhhhhh. Thnx?
June 12th, 2009 at 9:42 pmI’m not very susceptible to conspiracy theories but…
One who is susceptible to conspiracy theories could make a case that the Reichwhiners, since the ‘06 elections, have been building an insurrection. They’ve been screeching about “out of control leftists” since before then.
Now, one who is deeply into conspiracy theories might be able to make an even darker implication. It would not seem unreasonable to surmise that the Reichwhiners, knowing they would be cast out of power, failed to pursue domestic Reichwing terrorists because they were counting on them to do just what they’re doing. They are snapping, one by one and racking up body counts.
Now one would need to be a super-duper conspiracy nut to follow those two with a claim that various Reichwhiners have been assembling, arming, and motivating a gang of loosely aligned terrorist-like entities who are being triggered by the increasingly irrational and violent rhetoric from their loudest voices.
I’m glad I’m not very susceptible to conspiracy theories.
June 12th, 2009 at 9:50 pmwiley…
I’ve always thought of you as kind of like this Wiley…
http://www.johnhartstudios.com/bc/characters/index.php?page=wiley
June 12th, 2009 at 10:09 pmwiley…
June 12th, 2009 at 10:40 pmThe bu$hnazi department of Injustice was more interested in enforcing KKKonservanazi republiKKKan ideology than enforcing laws. Probably the most corrupt ineffectual DOJ since it’s inception.
“When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag carrying a cross.” Sinclair Lewis
June 12th, 2009 at 10:40 pmThat’s an interesting character—funny, I have an aversion to rhyming poetry. A stupid VA shrink once recommended that I write “concrete” poetry as therapy. I wrote a poem about the symptoms of botulism, but I think your Wiley’s poetry is “concrete” poetry at it’s finest.
June 12th, 2009 at 10:42 pmGeorge W. Bush, Dick Cheney, John Ashcroft and Condi Rice aided and abetted the religious terrorists behind the 9/11 attacks, and the right-wing murder of nearly 3,000 innocent U.S. citizens on 9/11, by blowing off all the warning signs in 2001 before the 9/11 attacks of an impending domestic religious terrorist attack.
Bush, Cheney, Ashcroft, Gonzales and Mukasey aided and abetted anti-abortionist religious terrorists, throwing their support behind the religious terrorists’ ongoing campaign to terrorize innocent U.S. citizens into submission to their perverse, anti-American, anti-democracy right-wing religious ideology, essentially turning all family planning clinics into the World Trade Center buildings and the Pentagon on 9/11…targets…with the innocent U.S. citizens working or visiting these legal women’s health clinics…targets.
Bush: Worst President Ever. Cheney: Worst Vice-President Ever. Ashcroft, Gonzales, Mukasey: Worst Attorney Generals Ever. And all of them dangerous right-wing ideologues.
June 12th, 2009 at 11:12 pmfor wiley…
gather sand, gravel and lime,
June 13th, 2009 at 12:06 amadd water and mix with your feet.
after just a wee bit of time,
your efforts will become concrete.
We all love wiley! Yeah!
June 13th, 2009 at 1:47 amSpeaking of George W. Bush:
SCANDAL! SCANDAL! SCANDAL!
EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!
George W. Bush continuously criminally stalked Margie Schoedinger to the point that she could not get away from it, and she committed suicide in desperation to escape: he murdered her.
“In her suit, Margie Schoedinger states that George W. Bush committed sexual crimes against her, organized harassment and moral pressure on her, her family members and close relatives and friends. As Schoedinger said, she was strongly recommended to keep her mouth shut. . . . Furthermore, she alleges that George Bush ordered to show pressure on her to the point, when she commits suicide” (blog of drizzten).
“One of those ‘very leasts’ [was] George Bush’s personal complicity in the death (murder to be precise) of my friend Margie Schoedinger in September of 2003. Determining the exact whereabouts and contacts of [then] president-elect George Bush on September 21 thru 22, 2003, should be entirely lacking in difficulty” (Leola McConnell (Nevada Progressive Democratic Candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010)).
Leola McConnell is correct: Bush applying pressure (continuously criminally stalking Margie Schoedinger) purposefully to force Margie Schoedinger to commit suicide does in fact constitute murder.
Bush is a racist hate criminal and hates black people (andrewyu-jenwang.blogspot.com).
BEWARE: If the president of the United States hates one—for whatever reasons—he can continuously criminally stalk one to the point that one cannot get away from it, and one ultimately commits suicide in desperation to escape. He can murder people in this way.
Bush is getting away with his murder of Margie Schoedinger—with no sheriff, prosecutor, or court willing to uphold the rule of law.Bush’s method of murdering Margie Schoedinger cannot exist in a vacuum: he must have murdered other people in the same way.
Bush should confess, come out with the names of all of the people whom he murdered in the disgusting way he murdered Margie Schoedinger, undergo execution, and accordingly find himself at the intersection where he would be free.
(There are thousands of copies of the information above on the Internet. It exists very extensively in all major search engines. Please feel free to go to any major search engine, type “George W. Bush continuously criminally stalked Margie Schoedinger to the point that she could not get away from it, and she committed suicide in desperation to escape: he murdered her,” hit “Enter,” and find innumerable results.)
_______________
Andrew Yu-Jen Wang
(a.k.a. “THE DISSEMINATING MACHINE”)
B.S., Summa Cum Laude, 1996
Messiah College, Grantham, PA
Lower Merion High School, Ardmore, PA, 1993
(After the initial phase relative to disseminating the post about George W. Bush murdering Margie Schoedinger, the post will be disseminated off and on (intermittently) at lightning-like speed through the year 2053.)
June 13th, 2009 at 2:27 amJune 13th, 2009 at 2:27 am
The day after Dr. George Tiller was murdered, TWI obtained data revealing that under the Bush administration, criminal enforcement of the federal law designed to protect abortion providers and clinics had declined by more than 75 percent over the last eight years.
But there’s also a civil component to that federal law, known as the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act. That part of the law allows the attorney general to seek an injunction and compensatory damages for anyone who’s been harmed by any activity that violates the law. And it turns out that the Department of Justice over the last eight years didn’t use that part of the law to protect abortion providers, either.
Any response from you trolls on this?
June 13th, 2009 at 2:30 amnoseeum, you make me and my friend to laugh.
June 13th, 2009 at 2:38 amI love-ed you too.
June 13th, 2009 at 4:48 amOne thing is for sure…just put a George Bush headline on one of you’re threads…and all of you spend the rest of the day…giving each other “reacharounds”…in you’re attempts to outdo each other in talking smack!
what a joke all of you hypocrites are.
June 13th, 2009 at 7:48 amRealityCheck Says: “what a joke all of you hypocrites are.”
It’s important to joke around and have fun, good for your mental health.
Try not to be so serious all the time.
Check, please…
June 13th, 2009 at 8:05 amWhy would the Bush administration want to crack down on their political allies? The man who murdered a doctor at his church and the man who opened fire on one of our national museums are foot soldiers of the Republican “movement”. The The administration looked the other way while these terrorists plotted their crimes, cheered on by hate radio personalities like O’Reilly, Beck, and Limbaugh.
June 13th, 2009 at 11:17 amI have previously stated that Bush and Company did NOTHING to prevent abortions in America, even though they had 8 years in the White-House, the Senate, the House of Reps, the Supreme Court, and a lock on the MSM.
I now admit that I was wrong.
They willfully held back prosecutions of anti-abortion zealots and made it easier for them to harass and ultimately kill LEGAL abortion providers.
June 13th, 2009 at 1:54 pmI guess George W. Bush did do something about abortion after all.
A lot of unrich people who voted for the Cheney/Bush regime were under the impression that they had their best interest in mind. All of these folks who voted for them seem to have a serious case of the Stockholm syndrome.
June 13th, 2009 at 7:27 pmThe one thing that is sure RealityPunk is you are one of the stupidest pieces of garbage known to man
June 13th, 2009 at 8:52 pme_to_the_pOTATO BUG Says:
sooo, does this mean it is legally sound to stop those pro-hate d-bags…
I’m beginning to think maybe they shouldn’t be allowed to marry.
.
wisdomofwords Says:
A lot of unrich people who voted for the Cheney/Bush regime were under the impression that they had their best interest in mind.
That’s only the case if you have a billion dollars in assets or more. The rest of them are brainwashed to serve their ridiculously wealthy masters.
June 14th, 2009 at 12:11 amen son videolar
June 15th, 2009 at 7:23 amen son videolar