Violence against abortion providers has sky-rocketed since the fall of Roe, with a sharp increase in the amount of incidents against clinics in abortion-friendly states, according to new data released by the National Abortion Federation (NAF).
The data, which covers 2022, shows a jump in the number of serious incidents. Burglaries tripled, rising from 13 incidents to 43 incidents year over year, as did stalking incidents, which jumped from 28 reports to 92. There were four arson attacks reported in 2022, double that of the previous year.
The new report from NAF puts numbers behind what reproductive rights activists say they’ve seen since the fall of Roe. Abortion clinic escorts told The Daily Beast last year that their work was becoming a “war zone,” with an increase in confrontational behavior from anti-abortion activists.
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“The data is proof of what we have known to be true: anti-abortion extremists have been emboldened by the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and the cascade of abortion bans that followed. As clinics closed in states with bans, extremists have simply shifted their focus to protective states,” Melissa Fowler, the Chief Program Officer at NAF, said in a statement.
When the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the legislation that guaranteed a federal right to abortion, in June 2022, abortion clinics in states with “trigger-laws” were forced to close.
States with abortion protections, where clinics remained open, have seen a staggering increase in violence over the last year, NAF’s new data shows. Stalking incidents jumped ten-fold, from eight incidents in 2021 to 81 in 2022. Clinics in “protective states” also saw a rise in assault and batteries, burglaries, bomb threats, and picketing. Reports of people obstructing access to clinics saw the largest rise, jumping from from 45 in 2021 to 287 in 2022.
In March, a 22-year-old woman was arrested for allegedly setting fire to a building that was slated to house an abortion clinic in Casper, Wyoming, causing devastating damage that prevented the facility from opening.
The Wellspring Health Access clinic had been the subject of protests in the weeks leading up to the arson attack, the clinic’s president, Julie Burkhart, told The Daily Beast.
“This caused great fear in our staff members and it shook our community,” Burkhart said of the attack in a press call Wednesday. Even as the clinic underwent repairs, protestors from local churches and anti-abortion groups continued to rally outside the building. “We’ve had anti-abortion extremists come out to our clinic, week after week, for well over a year now, protesting.”
On April 20, the clinic was finally able to open, after a delay of almost a year and $300,000 in repairs. It is now the only clinic in Wyoming offering surgical abortion.
