Book Review:
I just got ahold of the heinous new book, Gideon's Torch. The first chapter is a blow-by-blow description of how to murder an abortion provider (with an accurate description of the ACTUAL CLINIC in Fargo, ND). The murder is committed by a "patient." On reading it, I am recalling many conversations with providers who have expressed their concerns about getting from their cars to their clinics without harm. This was always considered the danger zone and the doctors I have worked with have considered their office a kind of sanctuary from violence. The Brookline massacre shattered this notion because it was the first large-scale shooting that violated the sanctuary of the office.
Now we have a "novel" about a "patient" murdering a provider in the inner sanctum of the office. I'm sure Colson, a jailhouse born-again, was licking his chops at the prospect of adding a new dimension of terror to the lives of abortion providers. And I wonder what kind of "prediction" of the future this is meant to be.
A sample from the first chapter: [WARNING: Not for the weak of stomach!]
Sherry [the patient] sighed. "You said you've dealt with lots of women," she said hesitantly. "How many of these do you think you've done? Abortions, I mean."Ann [the doctor] paused for a moment..."I've done this about thirty thousand times," she said...
The girl slid the gun from her pocket. The safety was off; the silencer was on. She kept it and her hands below the edge of the desk.
"Thirty thousand babies," she said slowly, taking a deep breath. "Then your own lips have condemned you."
The doctor looked up, startled.
Both of her gloved hands on the gun, the girl stood, raised the barrel quickly, and aimed at the quarter-sized round of skin between the woman's dark eyebrows.
She gently squeezed the trigger, just as she had been taught. There was a spitting sound and, simultaneously, the doctor's head exploded against the wall behind the desk. A pink mist hung in the air; the coffee cup dropped to the desk, spreading a brown stain across the appointment book. The doctor's body slid down the chair and to the floor.
The girl turned, as she had practiced, slipped the pistol back in her pocket, and ran the few steps toward the door. She took the key hanging from the deadbolt, closed the office door behind her, and locked it. Hands back in her pockets, she moved quickly down the hall.
The rest of the chapter describes how she leaves the clinic, telling the receptionist that she "can't go through with it" and how she gets away in a van with a fake Channel 4 TV logo on the side, etc. It should be noted that there is a large anti picket going on outside of the clinic both before and after the murder.
The points I am trying to make with this excerpt are:
(1) The antis are actively trying out ways to rachet up their rhetoric, creating the climate that, quite literally, promotes this kind of activity.
(2) This movement has grown in strength and numbers such that they now have their own genre of literature. Some time ago, people on our side were saying that the antis were dying down. We've all heard the numbers about what a small percentage of the population they are, etc. By teaming up with other neofascist causes, they have bolstered their strength to the point that they are a leading force on the US political scene. They have significantly changed the terms of debate around women's reproductive freedom. Their "heros" and leaders are household names. And with this thick, expensive, glossy book, they now have their own genre of literature (not just the garden-variety propaganda that all movements use). Any English major will tell you that this is a sign of strength of a particular culture or society. And this book ties up all of the themes of this neofascist marriage of convenience in a neat little package--anti-reproductive freedom, anti-woman, anti-queer, anti-government (ala conspiracy theory), pro-militia.
This should give pause to all of us on the frontlines of this battle. If we ever doubt the need for our stuggle, we need look no further than this book.
Michelle Gross
Reproductive Freedom Counteroffensive
Refuse & Resist!
Fri, 29 Dec 95
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