(2 of 3)
Two Texas men were sentenced to 30 years in prison for the 1982 bombings of two clinics in Florida. One of them had been joined by the other man's brother in the kidnaping of an Illinois doctor who performed abortions and the physician's wife. The three men claimed they belonged to the Army of God, a group that investigators insist had only the three members, although anonymous callers claiming responsibility for later attacks have used the same name. Curtis Anton Beseda, an unemployed roofer, confessed his guilt while on trial for four arson attacks last year on clinics in Everett and Bellingham, Wash. He said he had done the torchings "for the glory of God." He was sentenced to 20 years and ordered to pay $298,000 for the damage he had caused. Says John Killorin, spokesman for the BATF: "We don't buy the defense that this is just property damage. The natural consequence of a bomb is loss of life."
+ The explosion that ripped through the Hillcrest Women's Surgi-Center in Washington, D.C., last week shattered 230 windows in two nearby apartment buildings. "It sounded like a war was going on," said one woman after watching her bedroom window collapse at 12:10 on New Year's morning. A caller claiming to be a member of the apparently nonexistent Army of God took responsibility for the bombing attack.
The Christmas explosions in Pensacola damaged the Ladies Center Inc., an abortion facility, destroyed the rented offices of Dr. William Permenter, a gynecologist who devotes only about 10% of his practice to abortions, and damaged the clinic of Dr. Bo Bagenholm, an obstetrician who performs some abortions. Permenter said he would stop his abortion practice. "You can't get an office, because people don't want their buildings burned down," he explained of the climate that has been created. "This has become a nightmare." Bagenholm, though, has found new office space and vows to carry on. Said he: "The only way I'll stop doing abortions is if the laws are changed. I'm not going to give in to terrorism. You expect right-to-lifers to be nonviolent."
BATF agents soon arrested four young people and charged them with violating federal firearms and explosive laws: Matthew Goldsby, 21, a construction worker; Kaye Wiggins, 18, his fiancee; James Simmons, 21, a glass-company worker; Kathy Simmons, 18, his wife. Wiggins said at a press conference that the bombings were meant to be "a gift to Jesus on his birthday." Pro-life leaders in Pensacola, anxious to dissociate themselves from the violence, said that the four had not been active in their movement.
Some antiabortion activists admitted to having mixed emotions about the bombings. "This isn't terrorism," insisted the Rev. David Shofner, pastor of West Pensacola Baptist Church and a frequent picketer at abortion clinics. "This is destruction of property. History will prove that the bombers will be the heroes because they stopped the killing of babies." Declared John Burt, head of Our Father's House, a Pensacola home for unmarried mothers: "I don't approve of the means, but I'm glad that the killing has stopped. Upwards of 350 babies are killed each week in Pensacola."