|
Flyer targets abortion doctor The flyers were distributed by members of Operation Save America (OSA), an anti-abortion group based in North Carolina, in the neighborhood around the Boulder Abortion Clinic at 1130 Alpine Ave. where Hern works. An excerpt from the flyer reads, "Over the past three decades he (Hern) has profited from the (sic) slaughter of thousands upon thousands of innocent children. Please tell him that you are uncomfortable with a murderer in your neighborhood." To say the flyer is unsettling to Hern would be an understatement. "I'm horrified," Hern told the Colorado Daily on Thursday. "I'm frightened." Hern said he feels his life is being threatened with the distribution of the flyers. "This is target identification," said Hern. "It's terrorism. It certainly makes me feel like I'm being hunted down and that's the idea, as though I did something wrong." Hern said the distribution of posters before an assassination of an abortion doctor was a proven pattern in a federal court case in Oregon in February of 1999. That case was against the American Coalition of Life Activists (ACLA). During that time, ACLA compiled a "hit list," called the "Nuremberg Files," listing personal information about abortion doctors. Hern was a plaintiff in the court case and one of the doctors on the list. Hern said this act by OSA mirrors the actions of ACLA in the 1990s. "This is how fascists create an atmosphere of fear, suspicion, intolerant, hatred, bigotry, repression, destruction of individual lives, and the destruction of a free society," said Hern in a statement issued on Thursday. Joseph Parente, a member of OSA, said the act of distributing the leaflets was not meant to be physically threatening to Hern. "The Bible tells us to expose the evil deeds of darkness," said Parente. "We exposed him for what he does. We believe it's a biblical mandate that we do that and that people (in the neighborhood) want to know what is going on in the area." Parente said OSA has made it clear the group condemns violence against what they call "abortionists." "This is certainly not a threat of violence against abortionist Hern, but hopefully it is a wake-up call to him," he said. Lexie Wagner, outgoing director of Respect Life Committee at CU-Boulder, said Hern is "valid in feeling personally attacked" by the flyer, but that it is a response to the "violent act" of peforming abortions. "I don't think that he should feel threatened for his life, but at the same time I do think that, yes, it was an attack on what he does, and because he is so personally involved in that, then on his person as well," said Wagner. "You can't separate the two." http://www.coloradodaily.com/articles/2005/07/21/news/news03.txt Contact Stephanie Olsen about this story at 303-443-6272 ext. 125 or at olsen@coloradodaily.com.
|