Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 21, 1993 TAG: 9308210129
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: CODY LOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
But as details of the shooting were emerging Friday, 480 postcards bearing the names and pictures of three Roanoke Valley doctors who perform abortions were being delivered in the Roanoke Valley and Alleghany Highlands.
Most of the postcards went to individual physicians and medical offices, but 150 went to neighbors of one of the doctors.
The cards read: "For your information," the three doctors pictured "are ABORTIONISTS."
The cards also list the name and address of the doctors' obstetrics and gynecology group practice, which includes three other doctors who don't perform abortions.
Hedlund insisted that the cards were purely informational. "In no way does it condone violence or suggest that violence should be used" against doctors who perform abortions, he said.
Nationally, the tactic of attracting attention to specific doctors has been used to discourage them from continuing to perform abortions for fear of negative public reaction.
Hedlund acknowledged Friday that the Kansas shooting might create a backlash against the publicity effort, but he attempted to distance his campaign from others accused of violence against doctors who perform abortions.
Kathryn Haynie, Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge executive director, said Friday she wasn't surprised by the mailing, which she called a "very mean-spirited tactic" that raises "personal safety issues" for the doctors.
"Violence is just increasing as these kinds of personal attacks happen," Haynie said.
The postcards do not list the home addresses or phone numbers of the doctors, don't call for any picketing at their homes and were designed to avoid any resemblance to the "wanted posters" used in some towns to publicize doctors who perform abortions, Hedlund said.
The postcard is the fourth in a series of mailings that began in June from Hedlund's Pro-Life Action Coalition.
Previous mailings included a newsletter describing negative reactions to abortion practices and a card asking physicians to consider whether their practice would be "destroyed" if their "other patients" knew they were performing abortions.
What is to be a yearlong campaign is aimed at discouraging doctors from associating themselves with any future abortion service that Planned Parenthood might sponsor, Hedlund said.
Although Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge does not perform abortions, its board reconsiders that option every year based on whether there is a need in the community for abortion services, Haynie said.
"Nothing Ron Hedlund does will interfere" with that, she said. "These tactics simply will not work."
And, she said, "I suspect the community of physicians will be outraged," by the mass mailing. She said she expected doctors would "band together to support" the doctors who perform abortions.
One of the doctors identified in the mailing was out of town Friday, and the other two declined to comment on the mailing.
No spokesman was available from the Roanoke Academy of Medicine to comment on the issue.
Dr. Robert L. Vermillion, Dr. Julien H. Meyer Jr. and Dr. Donna L. Musgrave are named and pictured in red ink on the postcard. The name, address and phone number of the medical practice they are part of also is listed.
Hedlund said Community Hospital, where the three practice, also is a target of the campaign because more abortions are performed there than at any other Roanoke Valley hospital.
He said Vermillion's neighbors got the postcards because "his neighborhood was the easiest to target."
Hedlund said "we hope people will change their minds [about performing abortions] without us further publicizing their involvement in abortions." He added, however, that if they don't, "there are other actions we could take." He declined to be specific.
Andrea Sexton, spokeswoman for the Roanoke Chapter of the Virginia Society for Human Life, said she doesn't understand why this type of campaign seems to worry people only when abortion is the issue.
Other groups identify companies and their executives to protest This kind of guerrilla tactic is not going to change the reality that women will control their own reproductive lives. Kathryn Haynie Executive Director Planned Parenthood of the Blue Ridge policies such as the testing of cosmetics on animals "without being accused of putting other people's lives in danger," Sexton said.
She said, however, that this type of publicity campaign would not be undertaken by the Virginia Society for Human Life, which limits its activities to educational and legislative agendas.
The society avoids any type of "direct action" against abortion, such as picketing against clinics or physicians.
Planned Parenthood's Haynie said she was "confounded" by people like Hedlund. "This kind of guerrilla tactic is not going to change the reality that women will control their own reproductive lives.
"If Ron Hedlund really wants to stop abortions, he should concern himself with the prevention of pregnancy. That's the only way to reduce the number of abortions in this country."
by CNB