4th
FACE Has No Eyes or Ears at DOJ
Just for fun, I went over to the DOJ website and typed in “Abortion” on their search engine.
I wanted to see what they had been doing about these folks who glue the doors shut, set clinics on fire, menace anyone who tries to set foot in a clinic, send death threats, and, occasionally, shoot people dead.
The reason I went to the Department of Justice website was because threatening doctors, vandalizing clinics or harassing patients has been a federal crime since Bill Clinton signed the FACE Act into law in 1994.
The first thing that showed up on the index was a press release dated November of 2003, in which the DOJ told New York to get ready for a vigorous federal defense of the partial birth abortion ban, which some abortion providers in the Southern District had a problem with.
Next was another press release, again from November of 2003, in which the DOJ takes a judge in Nebraska to task for allowing four doctors in Nebraska to be exempt from federal prosecution for performing the partial birth procedure.
Coming in at number three was a March of 2004 statement from Monica Goodling, spokesperson of the DOJ, proclaiming that the Department was willing to “devote all resources necessary” towards making sure that the people in New York, Nebraska and California who were challenging the partial birth abortion ban were going to get their asses handed to them.
Number four was another statement from Ms. Goodling from February of 2004, in which she says that it’s completely okay for the DOJ to dig through the medical records of the doctors who are challenging the partial birth abortion act, as well as their patients.
Just a side note on Monica Goodling, folks, in case you don’t remember. She was the graduate of Pat Robertson’s “law school” who was put in charge of which real lawyers to hire over at the DOJ. And she did a bang up job. Clerked under a judge appointed by Clinton? Sorry. We’re all filled up. Pro bono work for NARAL or the Sierra Club? See ya. Wearing a What Would Jesus Do bracelet? Welcome to the DOJ. When can you start?
At entry number five, I found a press release from all the way back in January of 2000, in which the DOJ claims victory in a lawsuit filed against some folks from Operation Rescue, who were:
· physically blockading or obstructing access to all reproductive health facilities located within the Capitol Beltway;
· attempting or directing others to obstruct reproductive health facilities; and,
· coming within twenty feet of all reproductive health facilities within the Capitol Beltway.
The DOJ then touted its record in enforcement of the FACE Act:
“The Justice Department has brought 17 civil cases and 34 criminal cases since FACE was signed by President Clinton in May 1994. The law forbids anyone from using force, threat of force or physical obstruction to injure, intimidate or interfere with persons obtaining or providing reproductive health services.”
Ok, so back in the Clinton Administration, they were actually enforcing FACE. I wonder what happened?
Next on the list is a link to a Bureau of Prisons page, in which it states that if a woman prisoner wants to get an abortion, that’s fine, but they will have to come up with the money themselves. (That translates to, what, about fifty thousand license plates?)
Then we have an FBI press release from November of 2001, in which the FBI announces a $50,000 reward for any information leading to the capture of nutbag “anti-abortion warrior” Clayton Lee Waagner, who, among other acts of sheer batshittery involving explosives and bank robbery, sent fake anthrax to 500 abortion providers . (Don’t worry, they caught him.)
Next is a release from over TEN YEARS AGO, in March of ’98, in which the DOJ announced that they filed an injunction against the Operation Rescue people because they were blocking clinic entrances in Ohio.
Finally, at the bottom of the first page, is a DOJ budget provisions sheet, and the only reason that showed up was because it re-emphasizes the same “no taxpayer money for abortions” Bureau of Prisons regulations that were listed earlier.
Okay, I know this isn’t exactly diving deep into the DOJ website (there are, after all, 674 documents that show up under “abortion,) but I think this initial skimming of the pond says a little something about where the DOJ’s priorities have been when any mention of FACE enforcement is about a decade old.
It also says something that out of the ten links on the first page of the index, six of them are either marginally anti-abortion (no taxpayer money) or vigorously anti-abortion (anything that comes out of Monica Goodling’s mouth.)
It seems kind of obvious that FACE enforcement was not even in the neighborhood of a priority during the W administration. Because it’s not like abortion clinics were just magically left alone during those eight years. They were still vandalized, doctors were still threatened, doors were still blocked and glued shut, etc. etc. Federal laws were still being violated willy nilly.
It’s just that over at the Ashcroft and Goodling run DOJ, nobody gave a damn. It seems that DOJ policy was geared towards limiting abortion rights rather than defending existing ones.
According to a piece on the Rachel Maddow Show, the guy that murdered George Tiller had visibly violated FACE multiple times at a clinic in Kansas City, but each time the clinic’s operators turned over the evidence to the FBI, they were told by the FBI that there was nothing that they could do. Even with VIDEO EVIDENCE AND WITNESSES of FACE violations, they were told by the FBI to drop it. And the latest episode with this guy happened ONE DAY before he killed George Tiller.
So for the past eight years, it seems that violations of FACE in Kansas were ignored. Does it maybe have something to do with the fact that for most of the W. Administration, the US Attorney for the whole state was a guy named Eric Melgren? According to his bio on the Kansas DOJ Website, Mr. Melgren has been active with the Christian Legal Society, which states “the sanctity of human life” among its primary concerns. There is basically no difference between them and my golfing buddies over at the Liberty Counsel. And I can’t imagine them putting FACE enforcement at the forefront of their agenda. Not when boys are kissing somewhere.
Mr. Melgren is now Judge Melgren, but I have a sneaking suspicion that over at the Kansas Department of Justice, there is probably a memo with his name on it urging a position of institutional deafness regarding abortion clinic protestors. If anybody finds one, let me know.
