Sadly sometimes people feel the need to fight fire with fire.
"For one of the last abortion doctors in Missouri, harassment, stalking and death threats are a part of regular life. But this year, it's been worse than ever."
One provider said the movement against abortion access feels similar to when Dr. George Tiller, a well-known abortion doctor, was assassinated in 2009
www.cbsnews.com
Colleen McNicholas, the chief medical officer at
Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, is one of many providers who told CBS News they've seen an uptick in violence this year, both against themselves and their clinics. They say the increased harassment has coincided with newly enacted
state laws restricting legal
abortion and polarizing rhetoric surrounding the procedure.
The National Abortion Federation has been tracking violence against abortion providers and clinics since 1977. The Very Reverend Katherine Hancock Ragsdale, an Episcopal priest and interim president & chief executive officer of the organization, said the violence that providers face today is "beyond anything we've ever seen before."
"We're seeing a dramatic increase in violence and disruption against clinics," she said in an exclusive interview with CBS News.
In 2017, violent acts against abortion providers more than doubled from the year prior, according to data compiled by NAF. The group recorded 1,081 violent acts, the most since the group began tracking these incidents.
Last year, the
group recorded another new record high: 1,369 reported violent acts, including 15 instances of assault and battery, 13 burglaries, 14 counts of stalking and over a thousand episodes of illegal trespassing.
