Defending choice.

• Author: Sydell, Laura
• Position: Federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances bill

Washington

While it looks as if the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) bill will be signed into law in February, making it a Federal crime to blockade clinics and harass clinic staff and women seeking abortions, life for women and their doctors isn't getting any better.

"I do see harassment activity against physicians, their families, and clinic owners increasing," says Ron Fitzsimmons of the National Coalition of Abortion Providers. "What scares me is the justifiable-homicide trend."

According to Fitzsimmons, whose group represents more than 200 doctors who perform abortions, there is an organization called Defense Action based in Pensacola, Florida, which promotes the idea that "whatever force is justified in defense of a child is justified in the defense of an unborn baby."

Fitzsimmons attributes the upsurge of violence and intimidation to a feeling among anti-abortion activists that they have no recourse now that Bill Clinton is in the White House. While he's happy about the likely passage of the FACE bill, he is worried that anti-abortion activists may become even more desperate.

Bill Finkle, a gynecologist in Phoenix, Arizona, says he thinks the bill...