Wojtek wrote: >Charles, they are boogie men not because they are not vicious, but because >they do not pose any serious threat to the political system inth eus (in >the way the nazis did in 1930 germany). Despite their rhetorics - I do not >think that neo-nazi, religious right and other lunatic right groups are >about to take power or even gain any major influence in the us. If that >wre about to hapen - you would see the whole hell breaking loose, FBI, CIA, >NSA - you name it - going after them. A right-wing movement can do great damage to us even without taking full control of state power. The anti-abortion movement is a good example. While the politically respectable wing of this movement couldn't overturn Roe v. Wade, they have been successful at chipping away the right to abortion, as shown in imposition of parental notification, mandatory counseling, etc. More importantly, *the lunatic fringe of this movement has been even more successful*, in that they have *terrorized doctors and other medical workers* enough to make abortion providers scarcer and costlier than otherwise. (The average age of abortionists is sixty something, and young doctors are scared away from learning + providing this service.) In this sense, it is not true to say that lunatic right groups have no "major influence in the US" as Wojtek asserts. ***** 8/7/99 -- 12:33 AM Activist, tired of struggle, sells her abortion clinics MELBOURNE - One of the best- known figures in the battle over abortion rights in Florida has sold her clinics. Patricia Baird Windle says 10 years of struggling with antiabortion activists have worn her out. She sold her clinics here and in West Palm Beach. ``It has taken 10 years for the antis to force me out of the field as a provider,'' said Windle, 64. ``But I am not out of the work.'' Windle, who said she has suffered from failing health, plans to write and lecture on abortion rights. There are also lawsuits she is involved in, both as plaintiff and defendant. The sidewalk outside her Melbourne clinic was used as a training ground by the militant antiabortion group Operation Rescue National in the early and mid- 1990s. Demonstrators came from all over the country and from Canada. The protests led to a 1994 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court saying women seeking abortions or any medical service have a right not to be harassed by protesters. The court upheld the use of ``buffer zones'' to keep demonstrators away from patients. Windle's opponents were pleased to hear she had sold her clinics. ``This is a victory for God. It is not anything we did, it is what God did,'' said Meredith Raney of Christians For Life. Its members regularly offer sidewalk counseling outside the Melbourne clinic. ``I pray that it is a sign of things to come - more clinics closing.'' ``She is gone because Christians came there with the Gospel ... that is the key,'' said the Rev. Flip Benham, director of Texas- based Operation Rescue National. ***** For more info and stats, see the website of Medical Students for Choice <http://www.ms4c.org/>. Yoshie
