Politics & Government

Physician Intimidation May Be Link to Atlanta-area Clinic Break-Ins

Suwanee site is among those recently burglarized. The Anti-abortion bill is near a vote in the Georgia Senate.

As the controversial "fetal pain" anti-abortion bill nears a vote in the Georgia Senate, an Atlanta-area physican believes that several area clinic break-ins have a common purpose.

WSB-TV has quoted a physician as saying that physician intimidation is the apparent link behind the incidents that included the Georgia Obstetrical & Gynecological Society in Suwanee.

"They're treating us like terrorists," said Richard Zane, whose Atlanta Women's Health Center in Sandy Springs was burglarized in March.

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More recently, the Georgia OB/Gyn office in Suwanee was broken into. In both crimes, laptops containing member information were stolen.

Zane added that he feels the break-ins were designed to "intimidate physicians from dispensing or arguing about this bill," according to the WSB report.

Find out what's happening in Suwaneewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The station also reported that there has been a third break-in, in the Sandy Springs area, and that the Georgia Bureau of Investigation is probing the crimes.

House Bill 954 says that any pregnancy terminated after 20 weeks must be done in a manner that brings the fetus out alive. It carries criminal penalties including prison time for physicians who violate this measure.Β 

and is on the Senate's rules calendar for Monday, March 26.

In the Suwanee incident on March 17, a witness saw a man wearing black gloves and carrying a black bag run from the office and enter a black vehicle. The suspect exited the offices before the alarm sounded.

Dr. Anne Patterson, a Georgia OB/Gyn chairman, has said that medical experts widely believe fetuses do not fully develop connections related to pain until about 28 weeks.

Compiled by Steve Burns.


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