Police: Device Near Women's Health Clinic Was a Bomb

Posted 4/27/07


Sources say it contained nails; federal agencies join investigation.

By Tony Plohetski, Claire Osborn and Elizabeth Campbell

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF


Friday, April 27, 2007

A package found Wednesday in the parking lot of a South Austin women's clinic that performs abortions contained a bomb that could have seriously injured or killed people had it not been spotted by a clinic employee, officials said Thursday.

A terrorism task force made up of local and federal investigators is still trying to determine who left the package near the Austin Women's Health Center at 1902 S. Interstate 35, north of Oltorf Street, and are reviewing footage from the clinic's security cameras.

The southbound access road of Interstate 35 north of Oltorf Street in South Austin was closed much of the evening Wednesday as officials investigated a package found in the parking lot of the Austin Women's Health Center.

During a news conference Thursday, investigators declined to be more specific about the contents of the package — which was in what Austin Assistant Police Chief David Carter called a "carry-all bag" — other than to say that it contained explosive powder.

Two sources familiar with the contents, who didn't want to be identified because of the ongoing investigation, said the device also contained nails. Jimmie Oxley, a nationally known explosives expert and chemistry professor at the University of Rhode Island, said bomb makers often add nails to devices to make them deadlier.

Investigators also would not say how the device was put together or how the bomb would have detonated. Officials have not commented on possible suspects or motives or why the clinic was targeted.

"The device was a dangerous device," Carter said. "We believe it was capable of detonation."

Officials with the Austin Women's Health Center declined to comment on the incident other than to say in a statement: "We are committed to the health and well-being of our patients. Our office will continue to provide the same outstanding health care we have been providing for the last 30 years."

The clinic, founded in 1976, was open Thursday; a sign in front warned against trespassing.

The incident renewed fears among some of another wave of violence against abortion clinics. During a rash of attacks against clinics in the 1990s, a number of doctors and employees were murdered.

It also comes at a time when the abortion rights debate has made national headlines: Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.

The discovery of the bomb prompted increased vigilance among other Austin clinics where abortions are performed and was condemned by people who support and people who oppose abortion rights.

Joe Pojman, the executive director of Texas Alliance for Life, which opposes abortion, said he was dismayed to hear about the device at the clinic.

"It's just plain wrong," Pojman said. "This is very counterproductive to the abortion debate, and it hurts our cause."

People who want to reduce abortions in Texas should concentrate on getting measures passed to prevent unintended pregnancies, said Laurie Felker Jones, the deputy political director at NARAL Pro-Choice Texas. Jones called Wednesday's incident "unacceptable."

On Tuesday, as the Supreme Court prepared to rule on the act banning late-term abortions, the professional association of abortion providers in the United States and Canada sent an update to its members, advising them to tighten their clinics' security measures.

"We know from past experience that any time abortion is featured prominently in the news, there is often an increased chance of violence and disruption at clinics," said Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation. In Austin, several abortion providers declined to discuss their security measures in detail, saying that it could thwart efforts to keep patients and staff members safe. "Most clinics might have cameras, security videotaping and alarm type of situations," said Amy Hagstrom Miller, president of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers.

Miller, who is also the executive director of Whole Woman's Health in Austin — one of four abortion providers in Austin — declined to comment on what security measures her business was taking.

"Security is a reality for us every day," she said. There are no abortion clinics in Hays County; there is one in Williamson County, Miller said. Sarah Wheat, a spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood, said Austin has always been supportive of women's health care, including abortions, at her facility.

"I think when something like this happens, it doesn't fit with the support we have now," she said.

The last major incident involving a Texas abortion provider was an arson at the Fairmount Center in Dallas in 2002. The case has not been solved, according to the group.

In 2003, the construction of a Planned Parenthood facility in Austin was delayed when abortion-rights opponents launched a telephone and e-mail campaign against contractors who supplied goods or services for the construction of the 20,000-square-foot facility on East Ben White Boulevard.

As a result, the building's original general contractor, San Antonio-based Browning Construction Co., withdrew from the project in November 2003. Planned Parenthood opted to serve as its own general contractor and didn't release the names of its subcontractors, aiming to protect them from protesters.

More than 200 arsons and bombings have occurred at reproductive health care clinics across the United States and Canada since the mid-1970s, according to the National Abortion Federation's Web site.

According to the federation, 32 incidents of violence or disruption against abortion providers in the United States and Canada were reported in the first three months of 2007, along with five hoax devices or suspicious packages. In 2006, abortion clinics reported seven bomb threats and four attempted bombings or arsons.

tplohetski@statesman.com; 445-3605

This is insane. This could happen anywhere, even at a clinic that just does women's health (pap smears, breast exams, sti testing). Another example of fundamentalists that pursue a selfish agenda to squelch health care of women.