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On October 23, 1998, Buffalo abortion provider Barnett Slepian was killed by a sniper's bullet fired through the kitchen window of his home. Days later, police informed another local doctor, Shalom Press, that they had received a threat warning that he was "next on the list." Within hours the Press household was under federal marshal protection. America's violent struggle over abortion--which had already claimed the lives of five doctors and clinic workers--had come to Buffalo. Press's son combines a retelling of his family's experience with firsthand accounts of protesters arrested outside his father's office, patients who braved the gauntlet of demonstrators, and politicians who attempted to appease both sides. Here we see, as never before, the people behind the absolute convictions that have divided our nation for the past three decades.--From publisher description.… (more)
User reviews
It contains some great tidbits, because he has intimate access to his father, but it doesn't contain anything particularly new. There isn't even much about Dr.Press himself that one couldn't get from any other reporter. I wish it had been more focused on the struggle between the pro and anti-choice sides, because far too much was caught up in Eyal Press's own reminiscences about Bills games or tangents into the founding of Buffalo or Amherst College. He lived through the Spring of Life and he doesn't even talk about that much!
That said, even as unfocused as this book is, it does provide a window into the extreme efforts anti-choice activists went to from the 70s on. Press chronicles as they go from picketing clinics, to chaining themselves to the doors or equipment, to harassing doctors, escorts and patients at their homes and schools. Activists sent letters to abortion providers' neighbors, complete with pictures of the providers, their exact address and phone number. They set up billboards with the same information. They picketed and shouted outside abortion providers' homes. Providers were shot. Clinics received threats, anthrax, bombs, and some actually blew up (one activist called his bombings on Christmas Day a birthday present to Jesus. Way to go, dude!). Finally, after years of escalating violence and police and judges who dragged their feet, the situation got so bad that the Clinton administration passed the FACE act and Janet Reno heightened security for providers like Dr.Press. And hilariously, once actual fines and jail time started being associated with harassment and getting inside the buffer zone, the number of protestors dropped like a stone.
Press also points out the impact of high unemployment and low union membership--he posits that unions used to provide an emotional high and community-building, but as unions lost power and people got poorer, people in Buffalo turned to churches instead. I'd buy that interpretation, although I wish he laid it out a little better. I really wish this whole book was tighter, because it's a fascinating subject that deserves more attention.