Pro-choice leader: Press ignores 'terrorism' against clinics

By Daniel Chaitin, Daniel Chaitin

Published December 20, 2015

The president of a prominent national pro-choice organization is criticizing the press for largely ignoring the recent series of arson attacks on Planned Parenthood clinics around the country, in acts of what it called "domestic terrorism."

NARAL Pro-Choice America started a petition Friday to demand the FBI investigate the attacks.

In a statement obtained by Media Matters for America, NARAL President Ilyse Hogue said "we are witnessing acts of domestic terrorism at healthcare facilities across the country, targeting women who seek medical advice and the doctors who are brave enough to counsel them — in the face of repeated, violent attacks and daily threats."

She continued, saying that "instead of treating these incidents as the real and present danger to innocent civilians that they are, Congress is inviting anti-abortion extremists to testify at hearings, the Department of Justice has yet to announce a full investigation, and the news media remains silent. Where is the outrage?"

Hogue criticized the media for "staying silent or failing to discuss this new wave of attacks on health clinics in the context of anti-abortion extremism," and contended that journalists are "giving extremists the cover to regressively and violently attack women, their access to health care, and the medical professionals who provide it."