An anti-abortion activist in Iowa is currently under fire for his recent comments that “it will be a blessing to the babies” if someone shoots the employees who recently re-opened Dr. George Tiller’s former abortion clinic in Wichita, Kansas. Now, he’s being forced to clarify that he didn’t intend to encourage anyone to commit murder, and a major anti-abortion group in his state is publicly distancing itself from him.

Dave Leach, who has previously been questioned by the FBI after suggesting that other murders of abortion providers have been justified, posted his comments on YouTube earlier this month. The YouTube post consists of a recorded phone conversation between Leach and a second man who Leach identifies as Scott Roeder — who shot and killed Dr. Tiller in 2009 and is currently serving a life sentence in prison.

In the recording, Leach discusses the fact that Tiller’s former clinic has now been re-opened to the public, and speculates about what would happen if the clinic’s new owners were killed in the same way that Tiller was. “If someone would shoot the new abortionists, like Scott shot George Tiller…hardly anyone will appreciate it but the babies,” he says. “It will be a blessing to the babies. Everyone else will panic. Of all places to open up a killing office, to reopen the one office in the United States more notorious for decades than any other is an act of defiance against God and the last remaining reverence for human life.”

The man who Leach identifies as Roeder laughs in response. He says that Julie Burkhart, the women’s health advocate who spearheaded the effort to turn Tiller’s old property into the South Wind Women’s Clinic, has made herself into a shooting target. “To walk in there and reopen a clinic, a murder mill where a man was stopped, it’s almost like putting a target on your back — saying, ‘Well, let’s see if you can shoot me,’ ” he says in the recording. The man went on to quote another right-wing activist who once predicted that the abortion industry would end if 100 abortionists were shot. He says, since eight have been killed over the past several years, “we’ve got 92 to go” and Burkhart might be number nine.

In an interview with the Des Moines Register, Leach attempted to clarify that he does not actually wish any harm on abortion providers. “I’m 67 years old. I don’t know anything about guns,” he said, claiming that his statements do not represent a call to action against doctors and he actually favors banning abortion through the courts.

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Women living in the largest city in Kansas haven’t had access to a nearby abortion clinic for the past four years, ever since Dr. George Tiller was gunned down by an anti-abortion activist in 2009. But that’s about to change this week, as the building that housed Dr. Tiller’s former clinic re-opens its doors as the South Wind Women’s Center.

Getting to this point has been a long battle. Dr. Tiller’s murder is perhaps the most prominent illustration of anti-abortion harassment, and that type of conflict between women’s health advocates and abortion opponents certainly hasn’t been totally diffused since his death. As clinic owner Julie Burkhart has prepared to begin operating the South Wind Women’s Center, anti-choice activists have attempted to block her at every turn — contesting the building’s zoning permits, attempting to persuade contractors not to work on the construction, and even protesting outside of Burkhart’s home.

And they show no signs of letting up. Even though abortion opponents haven’t been able to successfully block the clinic from opening, they still intend to focus their efforts on forcing it close its doors:

“They can try to pretend it’s a full-service women’s center, but it’s just an abortion clinic,” said Troy Newman, the president of Operation Rescue, a national anti-abortion group based in Wichita. “And they’re going to go out of business, because we’re going to make sure that it’s not economically feasible to run it.” [...]

Newman was unapologetic for the tactics, saying that they were legal and that they would continue. But Burkhart and other abortion-rights supporters say they go too far. Burkhart said that she had been stalked and that demeaning fliers containing her picture and address had been distributed in her neighborhood.

Protesters have demonstrated outside Burkhart’s house, and a pastor recently put a sign in her yard depicting an aborted fetus and the words, “Where’s your church?”

After initially struggling to find abortion doctors willing to practice in a city that carries the legacy of Dr. Tiller’s murder, Burkhart has recruited three doctors who will provide abortion services up to 14 weeks of pregnancy. The new clinic will differ from Tiller’s because it will also provide a range of other types of reproductive care — including family planning services, cancer screenings, STD treatment, pregnancy and lactation consultations, miscarriage counseling, and adoption referrals.

But Burkhart is fully aware that the anti-abortion activism directly targeted at her clinic may undermine her work. With so much controversy drummed up around the abortion services at the clinic, some potential patients may be reluctant to patronize the South Wind Women’s Center for other types of health care. “The $10 million question for us is whether women, if they see protesters out there, will come in for their Pap smear,” she explained to the Kansas City Star.

Tightening the security around the clinic has been a top priority for Burkhart, and other abortion rights groups will also be closely monitoring the unfolding situation in Wichita. Over the past several months, women have started calling the clinic to see when they can schedule appointments, and Burkhart is committed to making sure they receive the health care they need.

After Dr. George Tiller was murdered in 2009, his Wichita-area abortion clinic closed its doors — and ever since, women in the area have had no choice but to travel up to 200 miles to get to the nearest clinic. Now, women’s health advocate Julie Burkhart wants to change that.

But that decision isn’t without its risks. There is perhaps no greatest symbol of the dangers of anti-abortion harassment than Dr. Tiller, who was gunned down simply for providing Kansas women with reproductive services — and that type of violence hasn’t dissipated in the years since his death. As Burkhart works to re-open Tiller’s former clinic as the South Wind Women’s Center, security is one of her top concerns:

Safety and security have played significant roles in the decision to reopen this clinic and provide abortion services in Wichita for the first time since the murder of Dr. George Tiller in 2009.

“We will have a security company working for us after we open. We also have other security measures in place, just the typical things that businesses have these days,” say Burkhart. She is reluctant to provide to many details because of concern about possible threats from anti-abortion activists in the community.

Burkhart says during the long process of reopening the clinic she’s been scared at times. In recent weeks demonstrators have twice camped outside her home. She says her passion helping women make their own reproductive health decision outweighs any fear.

Anti-abortion groups are already doing their best to block Burkhart’s group from opening the clinic, attempting to delay construction by complaining to city officials that the building’s zoning contracts weren’t issued correctly. Some of the contractors working on the building have already been harassed. The site of the clinic, as well as Burkhart’s own home, have been picketed by abortion opponents.

And Burkhart has struggled to find abortion doctors who will agree to relocate to Kansas to put themselves in the middle of the fight. In areas like Wichita, where there are already tight abortion restrictions and a lack of women’s health resources, abortion doctors often aren’t willing to wade into a hostile environment to provide reproductive care. Rising levels of anti-abortion harassment, as well as increasing numbers of restrictions placed on abortion doctors that aren’t required for other types of medical professionals, have contributed to a problematic abortion provider shortage across the country.

Nonetheless, Burkhart is committed to finding a way to open the South Wind Women’s Center sometime this spring. Women have already been calling the clinic to ask when they can schedule appointments, and Burkhart — who used to think she would “never want to step foot back in the state of Kansas again” after her colleague Dr. Tiller was killed — is ready to take a risk to ensure those women get the care they need.