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News > World

Man Brings Explosives, Knives into Kansas Abortion Clinic

  • Protesters in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in January 2011.

    Protesters in front of the U.S. Supreme Court in January 2011. | Photo: Reuters

Published 18 August 2015
Opinion

The bomb was set to explode and would have been deadly had it not been removed, the police said.

A 20-year-old man was arrested in an abortion clinic in Kansas after the security team at the heath center found an explosive device and knives in his backpack, police in Wichita county said Tuesday.

The incident took place on Monday at South Wind Women's Center, which was previously operated by Dr. George Tiller, who was assassinated by an anti-abortion terrorist in 2009.

The clinic was briefly evacuated until the police arrived and took 20-year-old Moises R. Trevizo into custody. The police said that a small explosive device, “the size of salt shaker,” was set to explode and could have been dangerous had it not been removed. The police and the FBI are investigating the incident.

RELATED: For a Global Fight For a Woman’s Right To Choose

“Today, our staff and local law enforcement handled a threat to the safety of our patients and staff promptly and effectively. The systems that we have in place to protect our patients and staff worked,” Julie Burkhart, who runs the clinic, said in a statement.

Burkhart worked for Tiller for several years before his murder. She reopened the facility, one of only three heath centers that provide abortions in Kansas, two years ago.

The U.S.-based website Think Progress reported that she has been subjected to death threats and therefore considers security at her clinic to be top priority.

According to the website, one anti-abortion activist said that it would be “a blessing to the babies” if someone shot Burkhart in the same way that Tiller was killed.

RELATED. US: Study Proves Most Women Do Not Regret Having an Abortion

There were 99 attacks against abortion providers in 2014, a significant drop from 299 such cases in 2013, according to the U.S. National Abortion Federation.

Attacks and harassment against abortion providers include anti-abortion protests following clinic workers to their homes and activists breaking into clinics and vandalizing them.

In recent years, several Republican-ruled state legislatures in the U.S. have introduced numerous anti-abortion laws. In June, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to keep 19 abortion clinics open in Texas amid a state law that could lead to the definitive closure of most of them. The ruling put halted a controversial 2013 Texas abortion law, considered by many one of toughest restrictions on abortion in the country.

WATCH: teleSUR’s Laura Flanders Show – Fighting for Abortion Rights 

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