Abortion providers and reproductive rights advocates are devastated by the assassination of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband over the weekend by a suspect who allegedly planned to also target abortion providers.
Former state Speaker Melissa Hortman (D) and her husband were shot and killed in their home just outside of Minneapolis on Saturday. Minnesota state Sen. John Hoffman (D) and his wife were wounded in a shooting by the same suspect.
That suspect, Vance Boelter, was apprehended by police on Sunday after a two-day manhunt.
Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Joseph H. Thompson said Monday that officials had found notebooks with the suspect’s writing that contained plans and a list of names of other potential targets, including the abortion rights advocates and Planned Parenthood centers.
“It is absolutely heartbreaking to know that in addition to those who were injured and killed, our community members of abortion providers were among those also planned to be attacked,” said Jamila Perritt, an OB-GYN and abortion provider in D.C. and president and CEO of Physicians for Reproductive Health, said in a statement.
“No one should be threatened for doing their job. No one should be threatened for accessing or providing abortion care.”
In a statement, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) said that the targeting of abortion providers is nothing new, and they fear more will likely come.
“The harassment and violence targeting physicians, nurses, clinic staff, and the people they care for is yet another form of hate and fearmongering inflicted by white supremacists and far-right extremists,” Melissa Fowler, chief program officer at NAF,wrote in a statement.
The Center for Reproductive Rights echoed that sentiment.
“In the reproductive rights movement, we are tragically familiar with politically motivated violence meant to scare us out of exercising our rights and intimidate us into silence,” said Nancy Northrup, president and CEO at the Center for Reproductive Rights.
“As recently as last month, an extremist exploded a bomb outside of a fertility clinic in California.”
Abortion clinics do not appear to be closing in response to the shooting.
Planned Parenthood North Central States is working with local law enforcement to increase security at their facilities out of an “abundance of caution,” but that their doors remain open, according to a statement shared with The Hill.
“In this incredibly painful moment, I am grieving and remember my cherished friend and fellow advocate, Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark,” said Ruth Richardson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood North Central States.
“Melissa was a force of nature, and her powerful legacy of service will be felt for generations to come. I’m also sending love, strength, and healing to Senator John Hoffman and his wife Yvette.”
Fowler and Northrup pointed to President Trump’s recent pardons of 23 people convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act as a warning sign.
The FACE Act was enacted in 1994 after protests and blockades outside of abortion clinics began to rise. The federal law protects Americans seeking reproductive health services like abortion from violence or obstruction.
Since then, providers have experienced an uptick in harassment and violence at their clinics, according to Fowler. The House also recently voted to advance a bill aimed at repealing the FACE ACT.
