Doesn't want to see return to old days before legal abortion

Mr. John O’Neil’s letter, published March 15 on this page, refers to the attack on the All Families Healthcare clinic in Kalispell a year ago.  Dr. Susan Cahill, the owner of that clinic, accurately described the event as an act of terrorism; that is, “a calculated act of violence for the purpose of attaining a religious or ideological goal, by instilling fear.”

This act of terrorism was successful. Dr. Cahill did not reopen the clinic; a major reason was the danger she feared for herself and her clients should attacks on her clinic escalate. 

Yes, part of Dr. Cahill’s practice involved ending unwanted pregnancies; however, the vandalism of Dr. Cahill’s office is about more than the abortion debate. That debate is steeped in strongly held beliefs, and probably will never be settled. What is most important here is that a needed and legal professional service has been destroyed by an illegal and violent action based only on one person’s belief and ideology.

Mr. O’Neil’s letter reminded me of my first job, as a visiting nurse in the racially mixed Roxbury neighborhood of Boston. As an unmarried 22-year-old, I found myself required to explain children’s health to mothers who had just gone through their sixth or seventh pregnancy.  Obviously, they knew far more about child rearing than I did. What they wanted from me was a way to prevent having more children. Any sale of birth-control materials was illegal in Massachusetts, and I could have lost my job if I even advised my clients to find help out of state. 

I see Montana regressing towards what I experienced in Massachusetts 50 years go, as legislative restrictions are enacted and clinic vandals are praised. I would prefer a community in which women have the right to act legally upon their own decisions, based on their own needs, not the beliefs held by others. —Ruth Neff, Whitefish