17 Senators Ask FBI to Probe Harassment at Abortion Clinics
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WASHINGTON — Seventeen U.S. senators asked the FBI on Friday to investigate a “pattern of harassment” by anti-abortion activists at abortion clinics around the nation.
But the FBI said it can do nothing under current policies.
An anti-abortion group said such a probe would have a chilling effect on all protest movements.
“The recent murder of Dr. David Gunn in Pensacola, Fla., allegedly by an anti-abortion extremist, has driven home to many Americans the rising tide of anti-clinic violence across the country,” the senators said in a letter to FBI Director William S. Sessions.
The letter was drafted by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), who gathered signatures from 16 other senators.
The letter said the actions are intended to prevent women from exercising their constitutional right to abortion and said a full investigation of “violence and harassment against clinics and clinic workers is essential to addressing this growing national problem.”
FBI spokesman Charles Mandigo said the Justice Department, headed by abortion-rights supporter Janet Reno, is reviewing the issue.
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